Marrying an X-Man is Hazardous to Your Health
by robbiepoo2341
Summary: Fresh off the high of seeing his best friend married, Kurt is looking forward to his own wedding in just a few weeks. But as anyone who knows the X-Men can tell you, just because they get to say 'I do' doesn't mean their happily-ever-after is a guarantee. For the Howletts, the Wagners, the Summerses, and the Lees, old and new problems alike will test their new families' resolves.
1. A Whole Lot of Sweet Blonde Kids

**Notes: Wow. Volume 10 already. I can't believe it.**

 **If you haven't caught up with Volume 9 (All the Best (Man's) Plans) on Canucklehead Cowgirl's account, then you absolutely should because it has a Very Important Happily Ever After that you neeeeeeeed to read.**

 **I'm assuming you have, though, if you're ten volumes in with us ;) So without any further ado, let's get right into it! :D**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: "A Whole Lot of Sweet Blonde Kids"**

* * *

Kurt was still in a grand mood after he'd seen his best friend married, and for days after the wedding, he could be seen grinning to himself and occasionally making a point of teleporting to wherever Kate was to snag her for a quick kiss, regardless of how many students were around to applaud and giggle over it.

At the moment, he was relaxed with a cup of coffee and a good book in the living room, occasionally glancing around the room at the various students and faculty members spread throughout the room either relaxing or grading tests or studying for them.

After a moment, Kurt's gaze landed on Tyler, who, he noticed, wasn't nose-deep in any textbooks but in a set of scriptures and a notebook, his mouth pressed in a little line as he seemed to be deep in thought.

Kurt crossed the room, head tipped to the side curiously. "What is it you're working on?" he asked with a wide smile — honestly interested and a bit pleased at the chance to find someone else deeply involved in spiritual matters.

Tyler looked up at him for a moment in surprise. He'd been deep in thought and simply had not realized Kurt was there — but he recovered quickly and gave Kurt a shy smile. "Oh, well ... my bishop asked me to speak in church, so I'm just trying to write up some notes."

"What's the topic? Perhaps I can help," Kurt offered, his smile only widening.

"That would be great," Tyler agreed, returning the smile, though a bit more sheepishly. "I'm supposed to be speaking on charity and compassion. I've got most of what I want to say in my head; I'm just looking up scripture references right now for, you know, the meat of it — to have some solid examples for my outline, that kind of thing."

Kurt nodded and settled in beside Tyler as the young man flipped through the Topical Guide he had in his set of scriptures, a useful sort of appendix that gave scripture examples for various topics. Kurt also broke in with a few verses that he had found in his own personal study, while Tyler had a few of his own from his early-morning seminary classes at the church as well, and within half an hour, the two of them had more than enough material for Tyler's talk in church, and the young man was positively grinning.

"Thanks," he said as he put a marker in Moroni Chapter 7 in the Book of Mormon, which had several good verses about the love of Christ. "Sometimes it helps to have someone else to bounce ideas off of, you know?"

"My pleasure," Kurt said warmly. "I truly enjoy this sort of thing; I'd be more than happy to help again if you ever need it."

"I'll have to take you up on that," Tyler said with a bit of a laugh. "I'm trying to stay sharp on my studies so I can prep for a mission after graduation — take a couple years before I start at NYU. If I get in," he added quickly, though Kurt was already grinning at that.

"I'm sure you'll get in," he assured Tyler, who looked a bit sheepish at the outright compliment.

Tyler rubbed the back of his neck for a moment. "That's what I'm hoping for," he told Kurt before he seemed to be chewing something over in his head. "Hey, do you… would you be interested in coming to hear me speak? You don't have to—"

"I'd love to," Kurt assured him quickly, the warm smile spreading even wider.

"Really? Great!" Tyler beamed at him. "I mean, Mom and Henry and Tammy are going to be there, but it's always nice to have some friendly faces in the crowd."

Kurt couldn't quite stop his smile from growing that much more as he heard the young man refer to Dr. McCoy by his first name — though he knew it had been a slip. Hank had been over at Daisy's house for Sunday dinners on a regular basis, and if Kurt was reading the situation right (and he was sure he was), the good doctor was completely smitten with Tyler's mother.

And it wasn't just Daisy who was getting Hank's affections. Kurt hadn't missed the fact that Hank was doing more for Tyler than the usual mentor responsibilities. Tyler was hardly ever out of Hank's lab when he wasn't in class — except for the occasional escape to the living room for some quiet to do homework when the med bay was busy or crowded. The two were all but inseparable as Hank was helping him to get together his college applications as well as gently guiding him to explore the extent of his powers.

The fact that Tyler seemed to adore Henry was certainly a mark in his favor when it came to dating Daisy, and Kurt simply couldn't help but think maybe it was time Henry made it official and became a father to the young man — or a stepfather, at any rate.

But he had his own wedding to attend to first, in just about a month and a half, so Kurt decided he would save the teasing for a little later. Unlike the two ferals in their midst, Kurt was fairly sure that Henry could be depended upon to actually _act_ on it.

He grinned a bit wider and put his hand on Tyler's shoulder. "I'll be there," he promised.

* * *

When Sunday came rolling around, it was clear Tyler was a bit nervous about speaking, but he looked sharp in his nicely-pressed white shirt and tie as he and Hank and Daisy, along with Tammy, drove out that morning. Kate and Kurt were taking a more "direct" route to the little Mormon church building on the corner of the road, so Kate was running a little later than everyone else as she finished up her mascara — since she didn't _have_ to be ready until later.

But finally, they were also ready to go, and Kurt teleported them to the parking lot at about the same time Hank drove up and parked, so the whole group of them were able to walk in together.

The little group of fairly colorful mutants and X-Men attracted a few looks in the small meetinghouse, though since Hank had come before to different activities for Tyler, they were already used to _one_ fuzzy blue X-Man in their ranks, so the glances Kurt's way were really more about the tail than anything else.

They sat down in a pew toward the front so that they would be easily visible to Tyler at the podium where he'd be speaking, though he wasn't sitting up with the other two speakers for that Sunday's program yet. Instead, he was seated on the far right side of the stand, with two other boys his age in white shirts, while a couple rows of boys aged 12-15 were seated as well.

Tyler's bishop, Bishop Graham, opened up the meeting with some announcement as well as a grin as he welcomed the visitors. They sang a hymn, and after the invocation, they went through a few matters of business for the ward before they sang another hymn — though this time, during that hymn, Tyler and the other two boys were setting up trays with bread and water for the sacrament.

After the hymn, Kurt looked like he might just burst _grinning_ as the congregation bowed their heads for the blessing on the sacrament, and it was Tyler's voice at the microphone saying the blessing.

After that, Tyler headed up to the stand. He was the first speaker of the day, and he did perfectly well — though when Kate glanced over, it was hard to tell whose expression was better. Daisy looked perfectly proud, Henry had his chest puffed out a bit, and Kurt was positively beaming ... not to mention Tammy never once looked anywhere but at Tyler. Ty had a pretty well captive audience there.

Once the meeting was over, the all made it a point to individually hug Tyler and tell him what a good job he'd done, and he was properly grinning by the time they let him have half enough space to breathe. It didn't escape Kate's notice that he was definitely pink when Tammy hugged him, and she was all but biting her lip to keep from saying something about it.

The two teens finally broke off to go to the Sunday School meeting for the youth, so the adults had to content themselves with grinning between themselves as they talked about what a good kid Tyler was — pretty much the exact opposite of his father.

Tyler, meanwhile, seemed to be riding a high as he stuck by Tammy through most of Sunday School, and during the priest's meeting with the other 16- to 18-year-old boys, he seemed to have moved on from being nervous about speaking to being nervous about something else entirely.

So when he met back up with Tammy in the hallway, she tilted her head at him for a second. "What are you still nervous for?" she teased him quietly enough that no one else could hear. "You did great! I heard Kurt talking about how impressed he was at the Bible references you knew by heart."

Tyler grinned at that but shook his head. "I'm glad everyone liked it," he told her honestly before he took a deep breath. "I was actually thinking about the Halloween party next weekend, though."

"Oh, have you decided what you're going to be?" Tammy asked with a wide grin. "Me and Brye have some ideas that we've been working on with some of the other kids…"

"Actually, yeah, I got my costume a while ago," Tyler said, starting to smile again. "I was just… actually, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go… _with_ me?"

Tammy had turned suddenly a bit pink, her deep brown eyes wide. "Like… like as a date?" she asked.

"Yeah." Tyler looked even more sheepish than before, and the two kids fell into a bit of silence for a second as Tyler waited for her to answer him and Tammy digested the question.

"Well, yeah!" she said at last with a wide grin. "I'd love to!"

Tyler let out all his breath in a quick rush and broke into a wide smile. "Great!" He paused, now totally unsure of what to do, because he'd only planned up to the part where he actually asked her on a date.

Thankfully, Hank came around the corner about that time to round the two of them up so they could get to the car and head back home, though it was pretty clear when he saw the two slightly pink and grinning kids that he had a good idea of what exactly had happened as he smiled softly to himself.

* * *

This year's Halloween bash wasn't a masquerade or anything, so at last, it was time for Jubilee and Noh to _actually_ debut their Spaceman Spiff and Hobbes costumes, to the delight of everybody in the mansion. K and Logan had returned from K's little cottage in time to catch the party, and K had made no secrets about being excited for that particular debut.

K was positively _delighted_ by Noh's tiger-stripe look, and before he headed down to go set up the music for the party, she grabbed his arm and pulled him aside to tell him something low enough that no one could hear, but it had him grinning from ear to ear before he nodded and zipped off somewhere.

"What'd you tell him?" Jubes asked curiously.

"You'll see."

Jubilee raised an eyebrow and shook her head — though she didn't, in fact, have to wait long to find out what K was up to. As soon as she opened the door to the ballroom, Noh came _bounding_ toward her and literally tackled her to the ground, grinning wide as he kissed her for the pure terror in her eyes for a hot second.

"I see you're living up to the Hobbes name," Kate said, grinning, as she and Kurt also came down to join the party — dressed as Antony and Cleopatra. The little bamfs were a mixture of Roman and Egyptian costumes — some of them with little golden bracelets, others wearing little wrappings, clearly mummies, though they kept trying to unwrap each other, and the rest with little togas.

"Well, this costume _has_ been two years in the making," Noh pointed out with a small smirk. "I should really make the best of it." He helped Jubilee back to her feet with a little smile before he kissed her properly.

"Are you going to do that every time I open a door?" she asked.

"I just might," he teased with a grin, sneaking another quick kiss before he headed to go start up the music.

The usual suspects for the Halloween parties started to file in after that. Kate's friends were sure to be there, though America pretended she was annoyed when Lucy went right over to hug Daisy, since they knew each other from work.

"C'mon, Luce, everybody _else_ wants to meet you too," she pointed out, though the little blonde simply smirked at her and feigned deafness as she kept right up with catching up with Daisy, asking about how things were going with Hank — who was standing right there and clearly used to the two women's antics.

America was finally able to get Lucy away when Daisy got distracted by Tyler coming in, dressed in a cricket suit with a stick of celery as the Fifth Doctor, while Tammy — Tammy seemed to be rocking a look right out of Storm's wardrobe, elegant and perfect… with white hair to match.

In fact… as the students started to trickle in, it was quickly apparent that several of them had based their looks on their teachers. Not the X-Men look — no, that would be too easy. Brye, the dark-haired girl who could talk to animals, had her hair spiked up at the sides and was wearing flannel; another girl was wearing tee shirts and telling bad Bobby-style jokes at every opportunity; a couple girls had pulled off a perfect imitation of Jubilee and Kate; and there was even one kid dressed as Noh and wearing a sign on his back that said "sparkly moon dust man."

America laughed outright as she pulled Lucy over to the group of teachers. "Hey, Spiff, I think the kids might've outdone you in the outfits this year," she said, grinning at Jubilee.

"It's because they heard about me and Jubes and our _spectacular_ switch-off a couple years back," Kate said, though she was giggling as she saw that the normally shy Sophia — the scale-covered mermaid that Kate had a soft spot for because she was Kate's first X-Man rescue — was dressed like K and talking with the "sparkly moon dust man", trying to come up with more and more ridiculous things to call him between stealing kisses with Brye that were not at all subtle, all while Brye was _clearly_ encouraging her and offering various nicknames in Sophia's ear.

Meanwhile, Kurt was chuckling to himself at Rico, who had plastered a pair of blue ears to his head and had painted his own scorpion-like tail blue. "I've heard that imitation is the highest form of flattery," he whispered to Kate with a widening grin, and she laughed, though when Rico found his girlfriend, Ziggy, who dressed as Kate, and the two of them proceeded to _loudly_ declare their love and gush all over the place, still totally in character, the rest of the group had to laugh at the looks on Kate and Kurt's faces.

"Looks like most of them are in your drama class," Jubilee pointed out to Kurt. "So you really brought this on yourself."

"I thought that the students had been doing this long before any classes pushed them in that direction," Noh said with a smirk to match Jubilee's. "After all, I believe _they_ started calling you two Mr. and Mrs. Elf."

"Oh, don't you start," Kate threatened, shaking her head at Noh, who grinned all the wider.

"Why not? You might as well get used to it, Mrs Elf," K muttered over her shoulder on the way out. She and Logan weren't too far off from their Halloween counterparts with the not-subtle kisses — though they were clearly going to take it elsewhere.

"We are _not_ letting the students start nicknaming us," Kate insisted. "No, no. They'll never stop if you give them an _inch_."

"Little bit late for that," America pointed out, smirking wide as she waved K's way. She had been grinning when she caught sight of Scott and Annie, who had dressed the twins as Raggedy Ann and Andy, and it was clear she already had teasing plans in her head.

"What makes you so sure it was the students?" Logan called out as a parting shot from the doorway.

"Enabler!" Kate called back to him, hands on her hips.

But America was already taking Kate's arm to redirect her attention. "Kate — you gonna do that when you and Kurt get around to the little ones?" she teased, pointing out the twins. Charlie was fighting with the ribbon in her hair, but Chance was clearly enjoying the whole thing, giving out high-fives and fist bumps to anybody that wanted them.

Kate gestured at the bamfs and their assorted Roman and Egyptian getups. "Yeah. Already done that, thanks. We don't need any _more_."

"Oh, but you so do," Jubilee countered.

Kate rolled her eyes at both girls before she decided the only way to get them to shut up was to get them out on the dance floor. She seized them both by the hand and dragged them out with her. "Come on, girls. Let's show these amateurs how to party," she declared, which was enough, at least, to get them all dancing, though it didn't look like either of them were done with the teasing.

They'd been dancing for a bit when a latecomer arrived to the party, looking a bit sheepish in her vampire costume, though as soon as Kate and her fellow former Young Avengers spotted her, there was practically a stampede to go hug her.

"Cassie!" Kate threw her arms around her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"This _is_ a party, isn't it?" Cassie pointed out with a grin. "And it's not a party without me."

"You know that's right," said Billy as he took his turn wrapping her up in a hug.

"Thought you weren't allowed to play with the dangerous kids," Tommy said with a wicked grin.

"I'm — Tommy, I'm not _fourteen_ anymore," she said, shaking her head at him. "I moved out ages ago. Anyway — it just took me a while to get my feet under me is all."

"Does this mean we're going to be seeing Stature back out in the field?" Teddy asked with a wide, almost hopeful expression.

"That's what I'm _hoping_ to do," Cassie admitted before she looked Kate's way. "I was wondering if we could do a little training. I'm _way_ out of practice."

"Anytime, anyplace, you name it," Kate promised quickly before she wrapped her friend up in another warm hug. " _Welcome back_."

Cassie grinned and hugged her friend before she put her finger in Tommy's face with a little smirk. "And you," she said, as Tommy looked half affronted and put his hand on his chest. "You're coming with me."

"What for?" Tommy asked.

"You got an _invite_ to the _X-Men_ , you lunatic," she said, hands on her hips. "And you're _not on the team yet?_ "

Tommy laughed and held up both his hands in defense. "Um, to be fair? I was traveling the cosmos with my best friend?"

"And what's your excuse now?"

"Um…" He grinned and seized her by both arms. "Let's dance!"

The other former Young Avengers had to laugh as Tommy pulled Cassie out and found a spot by the speakers so he could pretend not to hear anything she asked him.

"Does this mean we'll be seeing more of your friends?" Kurt asked Kate as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and planted a kiss on top of her head.

"Well, at least one of them," Kate said, still smirking as she watched Cassie and Tommy dancing.

"Oh, don't worry," Billy assured them. "Tommy _is_ going to have to stop being… like he is... at some point. David's off in between dimensions now, so…" He shrugged. "No more excuses."

"This is _Tommy._ He loves excuses," Kate pointed out.

"Yeah, good point." Billy smirked for a second. "But he's also my idiot brother. I'll get him to come around eventually."

"You're gonna try to talk _sense_ to that kid?" America asked, chuckling.

"I might just smack him in the head, actually."

"Oh — then I'm coming too," America said, which had Lucy outright laughing at her.

The little group of Young Avengers spent most of the rest of the party teasing their two friends — though each and every one of them denied being the one that had spilled to Scott that Cassie and Tommy were thinking about getting back into the superhero business when he came over with a wide grin.

"You know, if you really need the practice, we've got plenty of sims you could run," he said, mostly directed to Cassie, since she was the one who hadn't been using her powers in _years_. At least — not in public or in the big superheroic way.

Cassie looked a bit surprised for a second before she couldn't help but switch to a far more excited grin. "That would be cool," she admitted, and the group of them very suddenly figured out who the culprit was when a bamf behind Scott gave Kurt two thumbs up — and Kurt didn't look the least bit apologetic about it.

"Just let me know when you'd like to come by, and I'll be sure that there's someone experienced on the board for you," Scott said.

"Thanks," Cassie said with a genuine, albeit nervous, sort of laugh. "Probably a good idea in case I break something. I haven't gone _big_ in a while."

"You been sneaking around as tiny Cassie?" America asked, her troublemaking smile widening as she _clearly_ approved of this idea.

"Maybe." Cassie shrugged up to her ears. "It's kind of helpful when I'm trying not to draw attention to being late to class."

"Aren't you graduating soon?" Teddy asked curiously.

"Yeah. Took some summer classes and everything to speed it along after I switched majors," she said. "But I should still walk in April. You guys should come."

"Of _course_ we're coming," Teddy said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're like — our baby sister! Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Guys, I'm not _that_ little," Cassie grumbled, though she was smiling — used to the friendly ribbing about her age.

"You so are," Kate teased.

"To be fair, you're still older than the rest of Kate's students," Billy teased. "Even if they're all taller than you."

" _Hey_!" Cassie put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, she can't help it that she's itty bitty," Tommy laughed.

"Ok. That's it." Cassie shook her head and very quickly shrank down and skirted away — done with the conversation — though she did reappear on the other side of the dance floor a while later calmly getting herself a drink and looking supremely satisfied with herself.

"Well that's one way to get out of a conversation," America chuckled.

Kate had to laugh and nod her agreement, though when she checked her phone to see what time it was, she had to shake her head. "Oh, hey, I gotta dash. I promised I'd stop by Clint's place before the night was out. You know — before Gerry's bedtime."

"Oh yeah, gotta get your glitter fix," Jubilee called out teasingly, which had Kate shaking her head at her friend.

"Go be Aunt Katie," Billy said, shooing Kate with both hands. "We'll handle Tommy, seeing as your fearless leader has Cassie all set to go."

Kate smirked at him for a second before she rolled her eyes and grabbed Kurt by the hand. "If we hurry, maybe we'll be back before Wade's had _too_ much sugar," she whispered to him, which got a deep chuckle and a tender kiss on the cheek before he teleported with her off to Clint's apartment.

When they knocked on the door, Clint answered with a wide grin. He had a bowl of full-sized candy bars in one hand and Gerry in the other, and the little guy was wearing what had to be the cutest little Hawkeye costume Kate had ever seen. Some of that stuff _had_ to be authentic.

"Aunt Katie!" the little guy pushed against Clint to be let down so he could toddle over to her and hug her leg, and she had to laugh and picked him up to kiss his cheek.

"Trick or treat!" she said with a wide grin.

"Heya, Katie," Clint said as he handed her a full-size Three Musketeers at Gerry's insistence that he had to 'give candy, daddy.'

Kate grinned even wider as she ruffled Lucky behind the ears, then looked past the grinning golden dog to see that Natasha was there too, along with Jess — both of them dressed to the nines as vampire slayers — which was fitting, since Clint seemed to be dressed as Dracula.

"I like the costumes," Kate called to Jess, who grinned.

"Well, Clint wanted to pick out Gerry's costume, and I told him: only if I get to pick yours," she said easily as she and Natasha shared smirks.

"I Hawkeye," Gerry told Kate very proudly, showing her his little bitty suction cup bow, and Kate nodded her agreement.

"You sure are, bud," she told him before she ruffled his curly blond hair and he giggled with delight.

"Do you two make it a habit to come here every year?" Kurt asked conversationally as he headed over to the two vampire slayers, though he was grinning wide and clearly teasing them a bit.

"I heard there was good candy," Natasha said, stone-faced serious.

"And sugar," Kate said with a little laugh.

"And this is our last stop on the trick or treating tour," Jess explained. "Gerry insisted."

"Did you get lots of candy?" Kate asked. She directed the question to Gerry, but her gaze was on Natasha, who delicately raised an eyebrow and, with a smirk, gave the slightest of nods and mouthed out 'later.'

Gerry was giggling as he pointed at his little trick or treating bag. "Lots," he told Kate, nodding fervently, and she ruffled his hair again as he tried to bat her hands away with a little "nooo." Kate laughed and set the little guy down, and he made at face at her before he climbed up into his mom's lap.

"Is the mean ol' Hawkeye messing up your hair, sweetheart?" Jess asked, grinning down at the pouting little boy.

He nodded, which earned him a little cuddle until he stopped pretending to pout and looked over at Kurt. "Bamfs?" he asked with a small grin that had Kurt chuckling.

"They're dressed up as Egyptians and Romans today," Kurt said about a second before the first of the little guys popped in with a giggle and wave, and Gerry positively cackled with glee. He wormed his way back down out of Jess' lap to go play with the bamfs, who had plenty of practice not only with him but with the twins back at the mansion. Jess kept half an eye on the group of them the whole time as they took turns playing with Gerry.

Clint sat down on the couch by Natasha, and as soon as he did, Lucky jumped up to join him, more than content to curl up on both of their laps so they couldn't move and to accept any pets and rubs and scratches that he could get from either of them. "How's the party at the mansion?" Clint asked over Gerry's delighted giggles as the bamfs started to wrap him up like a mummy to match them, stealing the wrappings from each other in the process.

"Amazing as always," Kate said, leaning against the wall. "You should see Forge as a Stormtrooper. I'm pretty sure he's got _working_ armor."

"Of course he does," Clint laughed, shaking his head.

"He set up Storm with working Ghostbuster gear too," Kurt said with a wide smile. "It puts your costume from last year to shame."

"Well, that's cheating," Clint said, laughing a bit harder, just before a loud ' _ah-HA_ ' echoed in the kitchen as apparently Deadpool had managed to jimmy open the window to let himself in.

"Here we go," Kurt muttered under his breath — still shaking his head at how the two Hawkeyes had seemed to develop a strange sort of normalcy with Deadpool during the holidays, Halloween in particular.

Kate had to laugh, though, when Deadpool found them in the living room with a wide, obvious smile. He was wearing what looked like a perfectly tailored-to-him Miss Marvel outfit, complete with a scarf that he was trying to make look like it was billowing behind him despite being inside. "Trick or treat!" he declared.

The adults in the room either shook their heads or had to chuckle at him — but Gerry asked very loudly, "Who's _DAT_?"

"Prepare to be amazed, little guy, because today, I am Miss Marvel-pool," Wade said, striking a pose with his hands on his hips and trying to shrug his shoulders so the scarf would still flap. He grinned a bit wider as he looked over at Gerry and noticed the mummy bandages around his arms and legs. "Oooh. Oooh, _now_ you look just like your dad!" he declared as he started to take pictures.

Jess picked up Gerry and set him on her knee as she tipped her head at Wade. "The candy bowl is by the door," she told him. "Since you're trick or treating."

As Wade beamed and skipped over, arms swinging merrily, to pick out a full-size candy bar, Jess leaned over to Natasha and Clint. "I need to get him to bed," she said pointedly, which had Natasha smirking, though Clint looked let down.

"Yeah, guess it's late," he said with a sigh.

Jess rolled her eyes as she leaned over so Gerry could give his dad a goodnight kiss. "We'll stop by later," she promised as Gerry proceeded to give everyone enthusiastic goodbye waves — even Wade.

Once Jess and Gerry had left, Wade went right over to Kate and Kurt and wedged himself between them to drape an arm around each of their shoulders and pull them both closer. "You two practicing?" he asked. "Getting ready for the baby Wolvie? Gonna be the _best_ auntie and uncle ever?" He was half bouncing in place. "My money's on a little boy, but _you two_ aren't in the pool!"

"What pool?" Kate asked, half hesitantly and knowing it was dangerous to ask questions like that around Wade.

Wade took a deep breath, but Clint cut in. "He's taking bets on if it's a boy or a girl. Among other things." Clint shook his head Wade's way. "Still don't know what the heck a hawkcrawler is, but that's involved too."

"Oh, lord," Kurt said, shaking his head with his eyes closed. "Why?"

"Why not?" Wade asked with an open shrug. "Come on, aren't you curious, Bamfmaster? Wanna know if it's a niece or a nephew? I know you do-o-o-o-o."

"As long as the little one is happy and healthy, it truly doesn't matter. They will be cherished either way."

"Good answer," Natasha said with a little smile as Kate had to nod in agreement and kiss Kurt's cheek.

"Well yeah, but don't you want to _know_? Get little baseball outfits for the little girl or pom poms for the little guy or — or — you should be curious about this!" Wade informed Kurt.

"We've got a pretty even number split now," Clint said with a growing grin as Kate gave him a look that clearly said 'don't encourage him.' "I mean… Cyclops got one of each, then we have Dani and Gerry…so two boys, two girls. It's a tossup. Scales're balanced."

"I don't think that's quite how it works," Kurt said. "And I think K would choose to keep it to herself as long as possible, if her history of secret-keeping is anything to go by."

"If that's the case, you won't know for years after they're born," Natasha said with a smirk.

"That's why the betting pool's so good," Wade explained as if he was talking to a kid. "Nobody's gonna know for _ages_. It's anybody's game!"

"And you said you're betting on a boy?" Kurt said. "Where is popular opinion trending?"

"Popular opinion sides with _me_ ," Wade said, drawing himself up a bit, then paused. "Well, just _barely_. It's pretty even."

"Proof then that you are wrong," Kurt said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ouch." Wade put a hand over his heart with a look of exaggerated betrayal — which was easier to see than usual, since he'd rolled up his mask so Clint could read his lips, like he usually did when he stopped by the apartment. Then, a slow smile started and he leaned forward. "Waitaminnit. Why? What do you _know?_ Do you have… _insider information_?" He looked quickly over both shoulders, then leaned in uncomfortably close to Kurt. "C'mon, I won't tell."

"If I did, I certainly wouldn't tell you," Kurt grinned. "But as I understand it, it's too early to tell anyhow."

Wade looked crestfallen. "Oh come on. Pretty please? You can trust me! I won't tell a _soul_." He mimed zipping his lips shut.

"The number of people that knew about the pregnancy at all _was_ small. Who have you told to get the betting pool going?"

Wade put a hand over his heart and held his other hand up. "Hey, hey. This is a _special occasion_ for you guys. Only people who are already in the know are allowed to place bets." He grinned for a second before he added, "As for the _other_ betting pools… no such rules."

"What other betting pools?"

This time, it was Natasha who cut in. "Something about you two and a hawkcrawler, which no one understands. Then there are tallies on weddings, not to mention the next person to make Jameson's list besides Spiderman and our little Hawkeye here… you'd be surprised how many bets he has going on."

"And you know this how?" Kate asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I know about everything," Natasha said with a satisfied smirk.

"Tell me about the weddings," Kurt said. "Who's on the list?"

Wade took a deep breath and in rapid fire, Derby announcer style, launched into a description of the current odds stacked up on whether or not Logan and K could get themselves married before the big German Catholic wedding at the beginning of December, complete with "...aaaand we've got Kart _racing_ down the outside stretch and going into the third turn … it's too close to call, folks ..." and everything.

"Who's bet on that one?" Kurt asked curiously, his tail moving slowly behind him. "And at what point do you close betting?"

"I'll have to close it by Thanksgiving, seeing as you two will have it in the _bag_ by then," Wade pointed out. "Unless the other two just go and _elope_ and throw off my whole shtick!" He threw his hands up in the air and looked up at the ceiling.

"Has anyone blown their bet yet?" Kurt started to smile.

"Couple people tried, but I said nuh-uh, no way, I'd _know_ about that sorta thing."

"What do you have open still for dates, and can I buy a block?"

"Most of my betters are assuming that you two will take care of it first, truth be told — but I might be able to help." He took out his phone to show Kurt who had bet where, and Kurt simply picked the entire week that the wedding had happened and offered Wade two hundred for the block.

"Are you picking for next year? Because I know how you guys are with time travel — and there will be _no cheating here, mister_ ," Wade said as he wagged his finger in Kurt's face.

Kate had to grin at Wade. "Oh, no — I can vouch for him. There was no time travel," she said, her eyes wide and serious but sparkling with laughter.

"But… You're picking something that was like. Two or three weeks ago," Wade said slowly before he realized what Kurt was saying. He paused and looked shocked for a moment before everything shifted. "Date. I need the exact date and time and who was there _now."_ He sounded totally insulted by the time he finished.

" _No_ ," Kurt replied.

"It was super private, Wade," Kate said soothingly. "Small, private, quick little wedding, just to get them _married_ before something awful happened like, Hydra or something." She draped an arm over his shoulders even as they slumped the slightest, already working on redirecting him before he could work himself up too much. "Come on. I took some pictures on my phone."

"It's not the _same_ ," he whined even as he let Kate lead him off. "I wanted to catch the bouquet. And kiss the groom."

"She aimed for her target," Kurt said. "But if it makes you feel better, a lot of people simply weren't invited. You weren't singled out."

Wade let out all his breath in a long sigh. "It's still not _fair_ ," he whined mostly to Kate and rested his head on her shoulder as she shook her head at him and tried to steer him into a seat.

"I got some really good shots with my lovely bamf assistant," she promised him as she started to thumb through the pictures with him, though he let out a long, loud, horribly sad noise when she got to the kiss pictures — almost as depressed-sounding as the one he let out when he saw that Cyclops had walked the bride down the aisle.

Wade seemed to be trying to build himself up to something, making little huffs as he repeatedly shrugged his shoulders. "You know .. It's _fine_ ," he said finally. "I mean. I wouldn't even know whose side I should sit at anyhow. Bride or groom."

"Well, maybe you should've sat on K's. Nobody on her side, really," Kate said consolingly. "You know, in this hypothetical 'if the wedding wasn't _way_ private' situation. There were no sides anyway."

"So it was an X-men-only affair?" he asked.

"More or less, yeah. And family," Kate said, steadfastly not looking at Natasha.

"But we're practically _brothers_ ," Wade said. "If family was allowed…"

"No, I mean, like... " Kate tried to explain. "Like, _families_?"

Wade stared at her expectantly and gestured to himself. "And…"

She sighed and gave up entirely. "And there's a wedding in Germany where you can catch the bouquet if you want," she said in a blatant attempt to redirect him. "Which… we should get back to planning, actually. We've got, what, five weeks left and I still don't know what I'm doing for my 'something new'..." She looked to Kurt in an obvious plea for help.

"Thank you for the chocolate. I'm afraid she's right — we must get going," Kurt said to the three of them as he offered Kate his hand. "And Happy Halloween." With that, the two of them had simply teleported to the mansion before they could dig themselves any further into the Wade issue — leaving Clint and Natasha to deal with a slightly betrayed Deadpool.


	2. Go Big or Go Home

**Notes: Oh yeah. You know the bamfs are going to be protective of ALL the kids. All of 'em. I mean, look at how they are with Gerry. They're adorable. As for "hawkcrawler"... come on, griezz. Put Kate and Kurt's codenames together and turn on your inner Wade. It ain't hard. :P**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: "Go Big or Go Home"**

* * *

Cassie was nervous as she tied her long, blonde hair back into a ponytail. It had been ages since she did anything like this. Sure, she'd never really stopped _using_ her powers, but… that had been in little snatched moments. She hadn't been in a big superheroic fight since… well, forever. And she wasn't sure what was waiting in the Danger Room, even though Kate had promised she'd be up in the booth keeping an eye on her the whole time.

When she looked up to the booth, though, she was a bit surprised to see more than Kate and Cyclops. Nightcrawler and Wolverine were both standing there watching as well, though Kate waved merrily, and Kurt looked as approachable as always. Wolverine and Cyclops both looked far too serious, frowns on their faces and arms crossed.

"So… I'm ready!" she called up, pushing her hair back one last time with what she hoped was a confident grin. She bounced back and forth from one foot to the next and took a deep breath before she grew about eight feet so she could look at the inhabitants of the booth a bit better. "Bring it on!"

Cassie didn't have to wait long before the hard light simulation started up - though she was surprised when, after she shrank to a slightly more manageable size for the streets, there was a giant robot just as tall as she was.

"O-kay," she said, half to herself, before she launched forward and punched the thing as hard as she could right in the center of its chest, though she was rewarded with a repulsor blast that knocked her back for her troubles.

"Ow!" She glared at the giant robot and grabbed its hand with hers to flip it over her shoulder. "Don't do that!" she told the thing with a glare even as it tried to blast her with the other hand.

"Another talker," Logan muttered to Scott, who just had to smirk the slightest bit.

When Cassie tried to kick the large Sentinel, she let out a loud "ow" as the result was a painful stubbed toe, though she did manage to cave in part of its armor with how hard she'd kicked it, too. With a sniff, she stamped on its foot to return the favor.

"Gonna need to work on that," Scott said low toward Logan, to which Logan simply nodded.

They watched as Cassie grew that much bigger than the Sentinel so that she could better reach it for an uppercut that she had been hoping would take its head off. It didn't quite do the job, but it did leave sparks and exposed wires.

"Technique or power?" Scott said quietly, continuing the quiet critique.

"Both," Logan answered. "Easy fix, though."

Cassie took advantage of the opening she saw with all the wires and, instead of getting bigger, got suddenly much smaller, one hand on the Sentinel's shoulder while she was still big so that she could ground herself before she started to shrink down… down… down… until she was small enough to crawl up inside its neck where all the wires were.

They couldn't quite see what she was up to just watching from the booth, though Kate was smirking. "Electronic engineer," she told Kurt. "That's what she's studying."

Sure enough, whatever Cassie was doing to the Sentinel from the inside seemed to be working, as she pulled wires and rerouted power and basically made a mess of its head until it simply shut down and slumped over.

With a triumphant cry, Cassie climbed out of the Sentinel's head and slid to the ground, reaching her normal size before she hit the ground. Well, almost her normal size. She was about seven feet tall and looking sheepish as she had to close her eyes for a second to concentrate and get back down to her usual five feet.

She was panting slightly, and her hair was frizzy at the ends, but she looked up at the booth and did an imitation of a gymnastics salute. "So?" she asked. "How'd I do?"

"Not too shabby," Scott said. "But there's plenty of room for improvement." He glanced over at Logan, who nodded once. "We'd both like to work with you if you're able to make it out a couple times a week."

Cassie nodded and wiped her sweaty hands off on her pants. "I get out of classes pretty early on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That work for you guys?" she asked, her tone obviously hopeful.

Scott didn't even check to confirm. "We can make it work. I don't want you going out there without the right tools."

She laughed a little bit at that. "You sound like my stepdad," she said. "But you're totally right — I'm so very rusty." She smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck. "Guess that's what happens when you don't practice, huh?"

"I liked the part where you tried to stub his toes," Kate said, wearing a very teasing grin.

"Would've worked on anything but a robot," Cassie countered with a little laugh.

Logan had stepped back from the window and scrubbed his hand across his face to end simply covering his mouth and shaking his head to himself. "Another talker," he said again.

"Hey, Cassie and I basically ran the Young Avengers. I taught her everything she knows," Kate said with a smirk.

"Yeah? Like talking the bad guys to death? Sure you weren't in some kinda spider league?" Logan shot back. "And I recognized her punch." He turned to Cassie. "That's first to get fixed."

"Like I said, I'm super rusty," Cassie admitted. "I haven't gone big in a couple years. I'm surprised I can still do it, honestly."

"Then that's what _we'll_ work on," Scott said with his arms crossed.

Cassie nodded with another little grin. "Yeah, I need help on that one," she agreed.

"Well, you came to the right place," Kate reassured her friend. "Got my favorite teachers… well, minus Clint, but you don't need him for _your_ stuff," she added, still with that same teasing smile.

Cassie put her hair back into the ponytail as she nodded. "Well, I'll have to see if I can break your records. Give me a few months to catch up, and I'll run circles around you."

"Don't be cocky," Logan half growled.

Cassie looked toward Logan with a look of surprise and quickly shook her head. "No, no, I don't _mean_ it. It's _Kate_ ," she explained.

"She's like my little sister. We have to tease," Kate supplied. "It's just… a rule."

"Oh great," Logan said dryly. "So what? This one's two and a half?"

"Turning three next month," Kate said before Cassie could ask what was happening or defend herself.

"Perfect. She'll lap you in no time then," he countered.

"Only because her legs are longer," Kate laughed — which, considering the fact that Cassie was shorter than Kate by almost half a foot, was only true when Cassie was using her powers.

Cassie stuck her tongue out at Kate before she turned back to Logan with a little smile. "Promise I won't get cocky. Really. I know I've got a lot to learn, so thanks in advance."

"Just remember that later," Logan advised. "I'd rather not have to introduce you to our adjuster."

"Wouldn't… that be you?" Cassie asked uncertainly. "That's what I thought… I mean… Who's supposed to be the harsher teacher, then?"

"I get help for the hard cases," Logan told her with a smirk that had Scott shaking his head.

"O-kay." She shifted. "Well, I'll try not to be one of those, but if you can ever nail Tommy down and make him train — bring backup."

"I'll remember that," he said with a nod.

Kate grinned and headed down to throw her arm over Cassie's shoulders. "Come on. Annie's cooking dinner tonight, and you'd better get used to it if you're going to be coming by twice a week. It's _amazing_." Her tone brokered absolutely no argument, and she pulled her friend along by the shoulders as Cassie sort of grinned in bewildered happiness.

* * *

Kate had been planning to sleep in while Kurt was gone with Noh, Jubes, Scott, and Bobby on a mission — but apparently, one of the little bamfs had other ideas.

She'd _thought_ that they all went with Kurt, but no, there was the little guy in her face, poking at her cheek and trying to pull her covers away from her face when she pulled them up over her head to try and hide from him. "Go 'way," she mumbled.

But the little guy kept right up with his poking and prodding and jabbering until, finally, she had no choice but to relent. She let out a loud groan and pulled the covers away from her face and finally blinked away enough of the sleep to figure out what the little guy — who she now recognized as K's friend, so of _course_ he had stuck around while she was homebound — was trying to say.

It took her a second, but then she had to narrow her eyes. "What do you mean? Who let him in?" she asked, but the little guy only shrugged in response. He didn't know the answer to that question, so he simply pulled on her arm and jammed a headband onto the top of her head in an attempt to help her get ready.

She pulled on a tee shirt, jeans, and a jacket as quickly as she could, and the second she looked halfway decent, the little bamf seized her hand and teleported them both straight to the kitchen where, as he'd told her, K was deep in quiet conversation with _Daken_ , of all people.

Kate frowned. She didn't mind working with the guy if it came up, if she had to, but she was pretty sure K should _not_ be alone with him. He wasn't _that_ trustworthy. Not yet, at any rate.

And since Noh wasn't around to completely flip out on seeing K and Daken — he was pretty protective of his intergalactic lawyer — it was apparently up to Kate to stop this atrocity... or whatever.

She took a breath and cleared her throat more or less to let K know she was there — though the _bamf_ sound probably gave it away anyway — before she quickly filled herself a mug of coffee and sat down right next to K. "Morning," she said, her head tipped to one side as she peered at Daken and tried to figure out what the heck was going on. "You trying to bond with your new stepmom?" she asked cautiously.

Daken pulled a face and shook his head lightly. "We were discussing how best to track down Viper, since she has again used her connections to slip from SHIELD and hide like the snake she is."

Kate frowned at that. "Wish I could say I was surprised," she muttered almost half to herself as she leaned forward slightly. "You got any leads? I used to be a PI," she offered, deciding that even if this was a legitimate conversation, she was inviting herself. Someone had to stick around K while her sparkly moon dust man was gone, after all.

"Don't you have a wedding to concern yourself with?" Daken asked with a little frown.

She waved her hand at him. "I've had a year to plan it. It's pretty well planned."

"Be that as it may, I think I'll handle it myself. I had promised to keep my father in the loop on these matters. But seeing as he's not here …" He gestured toward K. "I thought she could relay the message."

Kate tipped her head the slightest bit and then nodded. "Alright. Well, if you need help, phone still works," she said.

He narrowed his eyes a bit. "I still prefer to deliver my messages in person."

"You and your dad… seriously, I'll have to introduce you to this crazy little thing called a telephone," she said with a little smirk. "Old-fashioned little ferals."

"I'm well-versed," he said dryly. "But it's too easy to lie to someone that way, and I prefer to keep him honest in his answers."

"That," she said, pointing her finger his way for a second, "is actually a really good point."

"Except for the fact that he makes it a point not to lie to you anyhow," K cut in finally before she gave Daken a look. "It's the other way around that seems to be troublesome."

"I'll keep your opinion in mind, but I'm sure you understand if I need to see it myself," Daken replied.

Just then, the door opened to the kitchen, and Scott came in looking tired as a fussy Charlie seemed to be fighting him about… everything, really. He headed right for the coffee, though he did a double take on seeing Daken at the table with his arm resting on the back of K's chair.

Charlie too seemed to tilt her head at Daken for a second. "Wogan!" she declared happily, but when she and Scott got closer, she wrinkled her nose and looked downright confused, glancing up at her dad. "No Wogan?"

Daken had stared up at them for a moment before he cleared his throat and stood up. "That seems like a good cue to leave."

"Thank you, Daken," K said genuinely. "I will be sure he gets the message."

"Let me see you out," Scott said in a tone that brokered no argument as he set Charlie down by Kate, who was very entertained by Charlie's confused expression as the little girl continued to half glare at Daken for not being Logan.

"That's right, sweetie." Kate grinned, pulling the little girl into her lap to give her a good snuggle. "You practice that glare."

Scott shot her a dry look over his shoulder for that one.

* * *

It was the night before Kurt's birthday, and Kate had made sure to set out a box with his "presents" beside the bed so that it would be the first thing he saw. Of course, the gleaming, brand new rapiers that were _actually_ his birthday present were in her office ... but Kurt was turning 50. And there was teasing to be done.

She'd gone to sleep pretty pleased with herself, and she knew that Kurt had found her little gift the next morning when the bamfs woke her up with a chorus of giggles, pulling on her face and hair to make sure she was awake for Kurt to unwrap the long box and just… stare at the contents.

Kate broke into a giggle at his expression as she leaned over his shoulder and settled her chin next to his. " _Alles Gute zum Geburstag, alter Mann_ ," she whispered as he picked up the long, dapper cane and simply had to chuckle as he ran his hands over it as well as the reading glasses.

" _Nicht so alt,_ _Vögelchen_ ," he replied with a little growl as he leaned over to kiss her, still chuckling.

"Oh, you're so very old," she countered, pulling him by the neck back into the pillows with a bit of a giggle. "Are you going to tell me all about back in the old days? Birthdays are supposed to be reflective, you know."

He shook his head at her and then kissed her into the pillows. "Are you going to be like this all day?"

"Maybe." She grinned at him impishly and then pulled him tighter to her to kiss him right back, though she couldn't resist telling him to "be careful not to break a hip," which earned her a very dry look just before he reached over and started to _tickle_ her.

She shrieked and tried to escape, but he had the advantage of a tail and about half a foot of height, and it wasn't long before she was pinned and gasping for breath.

When he finally let her breathe, she had to take a second to get her giggles back under control before she managed, "You're pretty spry for a man your age."

He just laughed and shook his head again. "Really, Kate."

"Really. I think you're going gray."

"If I am, it's because of you," he countered before he kissed her deeply, still quietly amused as he did so.

They spent a longer time than usual waking up after that — and it was practically lunchtime before they left the room to grab something to eat, though Kate insisted on stopping by her office before breakfast. "Gotta give my Elf more than just a gag gift for his birthday," she pointed out as she pulled him by the hand toward her desk. She ducked underneath the oak wood desk before she emerged with a long package that seemed to be pretty much exactly the same size and shape as the first present Kurt had opened, which had him grinning again.

"Another cane?" he teased, but she simply grinned at him and shook her head, making 'go on' motions with both hands to get him to unwrap it.

Kurt's eyes widened, and his eyebrows shot up to nearly his hairline as he looked over the beautiful set of rapiers, carefully crafted and even engraved — clearly custom-ordered, too.

"Do you like them?" Kate asked when he hadn't said anything, and he finally blinked and looked her way before a wide grin spread across his face and he rushed to wrap her up in a hug and kiss her passionately for an answer.

It was another long while before the two of them finally made it to food — a fact that was not overlooked by anyone who was down in the kitchen for lunch, as they were getting knowing looks and little smirks.

In fact, there were far more looks than usual, since most of the mansion's usual residents were used to Kate and Kurt's ridiculousness by that point — but for something as big as a fiftieth birthday, Kate and Kitty had put their heads together to make sure that there was a huge birthday bash, which meant that the mansion was fast filling up with visitors who now had to deal with the overly flirty engaged couple.

Of course, the sidelong glances were nothing compared to all the hugs Kurt was getting, either. Kitty had only waited long enough for Kurt to get himself into the kitchen before she flung both arms around his neck to wish him happy birthday, as expected, but Kate's favorite hug was when Colossus simply picked him up in a crushing hug with his arms pinned on either side of him. It was unbearably sweet.

Kate had to admit that she sort of lost track of her fiance after that, with so many people around to wish him a happy birthday and to get in their own hugs, but she wasn't complaining in the least. Whenever she _did_ spot him, he was completely surrounded by people that he loved and grinning wide — so clearly, he was having a happy birthday, and that was the whole point, wasn't it?

So, she quietly settled in with a satisfied smile and watched as he and Ilyana traded stories, and then Betsy and Rachel had him trapped on the couch as they were insistent that he stay with the steadily growing group in the living room, and then an impromptu party started up before K had even finished making the cake.

K had _insisted_ on making the cake, actually — she said that it was her contribution to the party, and Kate wasn't about to turn her down when K's cooking was such a rare treat. Annie, on the other hand, was insistent on making the dinner itself, and if the smells wafting from the kitchen were any indication — as well as the fact that she'd banned the bamfs from the kitchen again — she was working up a masterpiece to feed an army.

Of course, by the time dinner was actually ready, Annie's two little ones had completely stolen the show. They had both climbed up into Kurt's lap to give him baby kisses, one on either side — and both of them seemed content to stay there and shower the birthday boy with affection. The X-Men who weren't living at the mansion and subjected to the adorableness that was the twins on a daily basis were _eating it up_ , especially when Chance stole the pirate hat Kitty had given Kurt and refused to take it off even though his entire head had disappeared into it. (Kurt had been wearing the hat all day, but the sexton — that he left in his room, since he knew the twins would be around, and they had a tendency to 'borrow' things.)

So, by the time everyone actually got down to dinner, the whole group was in a fine mood — laughing, trading stories and inside jokes, and grinning at the twins as Scott tried unsuccessfully to get them to stop stealing from each other's plates at dinner.

The second they were done with dinner — and the cake had the right amount of candles on it — the bamfs couldn't wait any longer and teleported the cake into the dining room with little presentation hands as they set it down in front of Kurt. He had to grin at his little friends before he blew out the candles and very quickly set to cutting the cake before the bamfs could try to do it themselves — particularly one who had his own rapier and was rearing back to cut into the cake as if he were stabbing a particularly nasty opponent.

The party eventually moved downstairs, and somehow, by the end of the night — to absolutely no one's surprise — they ended up where the pool table was so that, even after everyone else had gone to bed, Kurt and Logan were still playing, drinking, and smoking as they traded quiet jokes until the wee hours of the morning.

…..

Translations from German:

 _Alles Gute zum Geburstag, alter Mann -_ Happy birthday, old man.

 _Nicht so alt,_ _Vögelchen -_ Not so old, little bird.


	3. Not What Kate Had Planned

**Notes: We did the math on the ages for all of our characters** _ **waaaaaaaay**_ **back when K realized that Logan was a Canadian and we did all the teasing about the age gap between the boys and their ladies. Remember, it's over a twenty-year gap, so unless you think Kate is a teenager… we've already established that Kurt is, in fact, that old.**

 **We had originally been thinking along those lines… You really want your characters to be young and spry and all that. But even if this isn't the same universe as the 616 and we don't always stick to their chronology and events, the more we thought about it, the more it was obvious that our characters were getting older even just taking into account the events that we DO recognize from the 616. I mean, for crying out loud, Kate is in her twenties, and she's around the same age as Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd. And those two were born after Scarlet Witch had not only been an Avenger for a while but had also fallen for Vision, lost her original twins, and then accidentally gave them new life and new souls… At the very least, Wanda is in her forties, assuming this all happened very very quickly and she had those kids in her early twenties. So really, 50 is a conservative estimate for some of the older X-Men, if you take into account the fact that the second generation of up-and-coming heroes is grown enough to get married and have their own lives. I mean, look at Cassie Lang. She's in college, and she was itty bitty when Scott Lang became the next Ant-Man. That's well after the Avengers and X-Men had been around for a** _ **while**_ **, too.**

 **We also decided that we wanted to be able to pursue this as realistically as possible, taking into account not only the passage of time but the natural consequences of heroes getting older and interacting with the heroes from younger generations. For example, the fact that the guys are being so paranoid about K and the pregnancy… that's an older generation kind of thing. Very chivalrous. Old school. We're taking into account the fact that they grew up differently than some of the other heroes. And what's more, as time goes on, you WILL see consequences to the aging process. After all, the X-Men and Avengers have been a thing for decades now. That's decades of almost-dying, decades of** _ **actually**_ **dying… decades of loss and pain and obviously good things too but you have to admit… that's exhausting.**

 **Anyway, the short answer is, yes, Kurt is that old. And for a reason.**

 **As for the Hawkcrawler thing… the mental picture is weirding me out? It had just seemed like you didn't get it because you said you had no idea what it was but that it "sounded dirty" so I wanted to give you a hint because that… is clearly not what was happening there.**

 **That should clear up the timeline of things, I believe. Pay attention to the details that we put into our scenes, because we have made it a point to show the passage of time with various holidays, birthdays, and other landmarks. It's been a few years since Kate and Kurt first met, and we're absolutely going to show that.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: "Not What Kate Had Planned"**

* * *

When the students in K's riding class showed up for their scheduled ride the morning before Logan's birthday, they were surprised to find that there was simply no one there. K wasn't anywhere to be found in the barn or anywhere else, really, and the class was left trying to figure out if they'd missed a memo somehow about class being cancelled.

Tammy in particular looked put out as she and Tyler and the rest of the class headed back inside. "I was looking forward to riding for a while after that awful history test," she whispered to him, and he had to smirk and nod his agreement, though when they reached the mansion, he excused himself and headed for the med wing.

He was honestly expecting to find K there. After all, it wasn't like her to miss a class without warning anybody — but he had been in the lab enough to know that Hank was concerned about the metal levels in her blood. They seemed to be rising, and both of them were frankly concerned about how much the little one was being exposed to, though Hank had prescribed her something to try and keep the levels down.

So Tyler had just assumed this was one of those things — a problem with adamantium poisoning — and figured he'd stop by really quickly just to offer a hand if he could, now that he didn't have a class to go to anyway.

But K wasn't there. The only person there was Henry, who looked surprised to see Tyler in the middle of the school day.

"Was K here just now?" Tyler asked, half to explain himself and half because now he was starting to get worried.

Henry frowned and shook his head. "I haven't seen her since coffee," he replied. "Though I needed to talk to her about the adamantium levels in her blood."

"Well, she wasn't at class either," Tyler said with a deepening frown. He drummed his fingers along his crossed arms before he shook his head and looked up at Henry. "We should — if nobody's seen her, we should tell Logan and Scott."

"Go check with Logan," Hank said. "I'll go to Rachel."

"Good idea," Tyler said quickly before he made a dash for the door, headed back to the history class he'd just left fifteen minutes earlier, where Logan was probably grading the tests that had just kicked their collective butts.

In fact, Logan was about halfway through the essay portion of one kid who had absolutely given up and written an action movie WWII-era story starring Logan after having clearly decided he had to write _something_.

"You should read this one," Logan said with a little laugh as he glanced up at Tyler. "Spectacular fail — but it'd do well in creative writing." He shook his head before he dropped it on the desk. "What's up?"

Tyler glanced around the room almost like he was hoping K was there to laugh at the failed history tests with him before he took a breath. "Have you seen K since coffee?" he asked outright. "She hasn't been down to see Henry, and she missed class."

"No..." Logan muttered before he abandoned his seat and headed for the door. "Who saw her last — and where?"

Tyler shook his head as he kept pace with Logan. "Not sure. Henry saw her at coffee, but so did everyone else, really."

"I'll see if I can chase down her trail. Go have Scott check the tracer." Logan was already running on his way out the door. "Should be an easy find."

"Right." Tyler nodded once and took off at a run in the other direction, headed for the teacher's lounge, since Scott didn't have a class scheduled for that hour. When he got there, he was half out of breath from taking the stairs two at a time, and the teachers who were there with Scott — Remy and Peter — looked surprised to see him standing there in the middle of the school day wide-eyed and panting.

"I didn't realize K was making you guys do sprints to ride," Peter said.

Tyler just shook his head. "K didn't come to class," he explained in a rush before he looked toward Scott. "Logan sent me — can we run the tracer?"

"You should've come to me first," Scott muttered before he rushed off to activate it, with a disapproving frown on his face.

"I was kind of hoping she was with him, honestly," Tyler tried to explain as he kept pace with Scott.

"And we would have known that much quicker if she was."

"Okay, yeah," Tyler said with a frown and a nod, too worried to argue the point as he followed close behind. He waited for a second as Scott got a lock on the tracer and then couldn't help but ask, "So, where is she?"

"Not far," Scott said, sounding both relieved and a bit worried still as he looked over the tracer coordinates. "She's in the woods past the barn." He pulled out his comm to relay the coordinates to Logan as well as to Kurt, who teleported out to where the tracer was to see what the problem was.

But it didn't take long for Kurt to report back: "She's not here, Scott."

Scott's frown turned into nearly a scowl as he ran the coordinates again and came up with the same results. "That's what the tracer says," he muttered out.

"And Logan found the tracer here," Kurt said. "He's following a scent trail deeper into the woods now."

Scott muttered a few curses under his breath before he could only nod in response to the information. "I'll come out there too, see if I can help. If there's a trail, and he follows it back to Sinister, he'll need backup."

But two hours later after running down the end of the trail and spiraling out for over a mile in every direction… Nothing. Scott tried everything he could think of, and Rachel searched on Cerebro for hours with no results, frowning. She didn't want to tell them again that ferals are a pain to find like that anyhow and that Sinister himself was nearly impossible to find with his psychic defenses in place — she wanted to find them as badly as they did.

And it paid off. It was well after dark when Rachel finally called out to Scott where they should find K, and both he and Logan rushed back toward the barn, where, in fact, K was in the hay loft, still unconscious, as Logan scooped her up to get her down from there.

"Get off of me," she half muttered as he carried her down the stairs, though she didn't fight him over it.

"No. You're going to see Hank right now," Logan replied. She started to argue until she saw how dark out it was.

"Did you catch him at least?" she asked, simply laying her head down on Logan's shoulder as she glanced between Logan and Scott. "Kate's plan — the tracer?"

Scott looked at Logan for a second before his gaze hardened into a deep glare somewhere beyond them. "We found the tracer in the woods," he admitted.

She looked frustrated for a moment before she let out a resigned breath. "Of course you did."

"It was a smart precaution ….but … Sinister saw through it, apparently," Scott said with an edge of bitterness to his tone.

"Just made it too easy for him to drop it," K replied, then fell silent.

The trip to the lab was quick and Hank was waiting for her with a full barrage of tests. She silently complied as he went to work drawing blood and readying all sorts of scans and checks.

As she sat there, staring at the floor, Tyler approached and offered her his hand. "I can try to be quick and ease your mind while you wait for the official results," he offered.

She watched him for a moment before she took his offered hand and settled in with a sigh, her eyes closed as she leaned back.

Tyler kept his eyes closed as he concentrated on his own scans, though he raised his eyebrows the slightest bit and had a little grin on his face that he quickly tried to stow as he finally opened his eyes and looked her way. "Well, if that creep left any marks on you, they're already gone — but on the other hand, the metal levels are way down again," he told her, though that wasn't everything he wanted to say. "In fact, they're back down to levels from a couple months ago."

Nearby, Hank was telling the others more or less the same thing, and Tyler glanced over his way before he leaned in a bit to K with a grin and a sparkle in his eyes. "Are you ... do you want to know if you're having a boy or a girl, or do you want to keep it a surprise?" he asked in a low whisper that he was sure only she could hear. "Because I could tell you now, if you want."

"I didn't think that was something you could figure out," K replied just as quietly. "But yeah, tell me and keep it to yourself."

"I didn't know I could do it either," Tyler admitted, though the grin was steadily spreading. "'Til just now, anyway — when I realized you're…" He looked over both shoulders. "...having a little girl."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely," he said, nodding, trying to contain his excitement so they didn't draw attention.

She bit her lip and glanced over at Logan. "That is perfect," she said softly. "Okay. So. I'll tell him. But after that? It's just the three of us that will know until she gets here, okay?"

He grinned and nodded. "Got it. I won't tell a soul you don't tell me to."

She leaned forward and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Kitten Whiskers. Only good news I've heard in weeks."

* * *

The next morning, Logan was awakened by a very affectionate wife kissing his jawline. When she knew he was awake, she stopped and laid her head back down on her pillow to smile at him sedately. "Happy birthday," she said in a low almost-purr. "I don't have much for you today."

"Already got what I want," he replied, pulling her a little closer and kissing her forehead. "I'm all set."

She settled in and held her breath for a moment. "Do you have any thoughts for names for your little girl?" K asked quietly before she bit her bottom lip, peeking up at him from her spot half under his arm.

He chuckled a bit in response. "You mean if we have a girl," he said with a little smile.

"No. I mean we're having a little girl. But I would like to keep it to ourselves. The betting going on is just too much fun," K said as she finally smiled widely.

He looked down at her with his smile widening ever so slightly. "I thought Hank said—"

"He won't be able to tell for sure for a little while," K said with a nod. "But Tyler checked me over too, and he _can_ tell."

Logan's smile slipped to a more serious expression. "You gonna believe him?" K nodded solemnly, and Logan's smile started to return. "And he can keep it to himself?" Again, K nodded. At that, he hugged her a bit tighter and kissed her soundly. "Well then, I guess we better start thinkin' about it."

* * *

When the two Howletts got down to breakfast a short while later, Kurt and Kate were waiting with coffee and the paper and wide smiles. "What are we doing later?" Kurt asked. "It's not a landmark year, but I'd like to celebrate just the same."

Logan nodded his head and took his seat with K, quick to put his arm around her and get her to angle in close to him. "I think I'd like to keep it low-key this year. Drinks and a fire maybe … if you girls don't mind the little bit o' snow we got out there."

"Sounds great to me," K said with a nod as she snuggled in.

"You're the birthday boy," Kate agreed, smiling as she nodded along with K, and that was really all the confirmation the boys needed to take their ladies and whisk them off.

Later that night, as it was getting dark out, it was clear that Kate's secret life as a party planner was in full swing. She had it all arranged — dry wood was at the fire pit in the woods, and she'd brought out blankets they could sit on and wrap up in while they had their little fire too.

K had snuggled into Logan's side as he contentedly smirked to himself and leaned into her. Kurt cleared his throat a bit and passed a bottle of whiskey to him with a smile.

"Happy Birthday, _mein Freund_ ," Kurt said as Logan allowed a smile and took the bottle. The two men shared a look, and with that, they both cracked open a bottle and started to drink.

K didn't seem to mind in the least, and it was apparent that she was in on it with Kurt when she managed to produce a fresh bottle when Logan quickly ripped through the first. She gave Kate a little wink, and Logan kept his pace, laughing and joking with Kurt — who was drinking much slower but was keeping up with the _level_ of inebriation that Logan was hitting. When Kate tried to steal a drink, K gave her a significant look and shook her head, mouthing out, 'you gotta _watch_ this' very slowly so Kate could see.

It was dark, the fire was roaring warm, and the guys even through their cheerful drunken haze were very concerned with their girls — both of them stealing kisses every chance they got. It wasn't long before they'd both insisted the girls get closer — for warmth, of course. Logan pulled K into his lap and wrapped the blanket around them a bit tighter and was grinning at her when Kurt did the same, then started to recite obnoxious poetry.

It was playful, and Kurt was giggling as he turned to Logan. "What ... how does that poem go?"

"Which one?" Logan asked, still grinning at K between stolen kisses.

"The funny one," Kurt said. "It plays with words. You know the one."

Logan stole a longer kiss and then launched into a poem that had Kurt nearly falling off the log and taking Kate with him. "Starkle starkle little twink, who the hell you am I think? I'm not under what you call the alcofluence of incohol. I'm just a little slort of sheep, I'm not drunk like thinkle peep. I don't know who is me yet, but the drunker I stand here, the longer I get. So just give me one more fink to drill up my cup. 'Cause I got all day to sober up."

Kurt was in hysterics as he shook his head and waved one hand in the air. "No — not that one."

Kate was giggling madly too, more than partly because Kurt's laugh was infectious and he was half holding onto her to keep from falling. "I dunno — I like that one. Whatcha got to top it, Logan?" she asked with a wide grin.

"I really don't know," Logan replied. "That's probably the best one."

K bit her lip as he tipped the bottle back and glanced over at Kurt to see what he'd do, but she had to cover her mouth with one hand when Kurt started for him, sloppily singing out "Two Irishmen, Two Irishmen..."

And Kate had to control herself when Logan, not even thinking, simply joined in as the two of them ran through the near-raunchy song. She was surprised and downright _pleased_ to find that Logan actually had a really good singing voice, and she had to clap a hand over her mouth to stop the mad laughter that was threatening to break loose. It was pretty hard, though, considering how hilarious the song was — and the fact that even drunk, Logan and Kurt actually sounded excellent singing together, Logan's rich baritone mixing well with Kurt's dulcet tenor.

She kept one hand covering the side of her mouth as she caught K's gaze and mouthed out, carefully, "Happy birthday to ME."

K nodded with a smirk and leaned in a bit closer to Logan as the song ended.

* * *

Kate was still in a good mood after she and the others got back from the weekend spent celebrating Logan's birthday — and of course, the mood only got better, considering the fact that she was getting married in … well. A handful of _days_.

It felt like she had been waiting for _ages_ , and yet it also felt like it had come up so fast.

Of course, that also meant that there was a whirlwind of activity once she got back. X-Men, Avengers, Young Avengers, even Jessica Jones — a whole bunch of heroes trickling in or otherwise sending her their congratulations as they got ready to go to Germany.

So Kate almost was in a bit of a daze the closer they got to the wedding until she realized she was packing her suitcase to go to Germany and ended up just staring at the clothes and toiletries in front of her…

 _This is really happening_.

Kate sat down on the foot of her bed for a moment and then finally reached over to close the latch of her case before she decided she had to get out of the room for a little while. She and Kurt could get to Germany whenever they wanted, after all — and then after that, she wasn't going to see him until they were getting married. Which, admittedly, was also something that was hard to think about.

Not that she didn't _want_ to marry him. She was just… having a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that it was real.

Kate was still wrapped up in her own thoughts as she headed down the hall, so much so that she almost didn't notice Cassie. But she didn't think much of it, considering Cassie had been coming over for practices.

Except it wasn't a practice day.

"There you are!" Cassie said with a bright smile before she rushed over to wrap Kate up in a hug. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"I've just been in my room—"

"Well, whatever," Cassie said. "I didn't think you were a homebody, and Kurt was out talking to Logan—"

"I was packing?" Kate offered, just because Cassie looked like she was working up to a good babble.

Cassie laughed and nodded and threaded her arm through Kate's. "Alright, well, you're not packing anymore, and it's been ages since we got ice cream together. So I officially declare that you're not allowed to take another step until we fix this."

Kate blinked at Cassie for a moment before she let out a little laugh. "That actually sounds perfect right now," she said. "Lead the way."

Cassie grinned and all but dragged Kate along, and before she knew it, Cassie had taken her out to their favorite ice cream place, and all of Kate's earlier anxiety seemed to totally melt away as they got to laughing and teasing each other.

"You know, this is where _I_ first met Kurt," Cassie said as she and Kate were just polishing off the last of their ice cream.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he came to meet me looking all blonde and normal, and I didn't get to see the full Nightcrawler look in person until later," Cassie said with a nod and a smile before she leaned forward conspiratorially. "I knew even back then you two were getting together. I told him he had to ask our permission — but then you went and threw that off, didn't you?"

Kate couldn't help but laugh at the look on her friend's face. "Hey, I knew what I wanted, and I went for it."

"And I couldn't be happier for you," Cassie said with a warm smile before she reached over and grabbed Kate's hand to give it a squeeze. "And I've seen the dress. You're going to knock him dead."

"Oh, I hope not," Kate said with a little smirk. "I'd like to get a honeymoon out of this, you know."

Cassie just laughed at that and shook her head. "Whatever you say, Kate."

* * *

The night before the wedding, the whole, huge group of heroes and friends were in Germany — they'd basically taken over an entire hotel, really. And yet it was somehow not as chaotic as it could have been, thanks in surprising part to Deadpool, who told Kate in hushed tones that he _might_ have _maybe_ made sure that half the world's villains thought there was something going on way on the other side of the globe so they wouldn't dare look that way. He might have also threatened the other half of them — the ones that were even remotely intimidated by him.

So it was actually a nice, quiet evening of champagne and bad movies and junk food with the girls in Kate's wedding party while Kurt had teleported off with his best man to do what those two did best — find a good bar and have a good time.

There was one notable absence in the group of girls, but Kate was actually a little relieved that her sister hadn't been able to make it. She would much rather Susan stay in rehab than try to crash her wedding, since Susan still had made it very clear she hated the idea of Kate marrying a mutant.

But the rest... Kate had asked America and Cassie to split maid of honor duties, because no way could she pick between them. And of course, Jubilee and Kitty were there, as well as K and Natasha.

The girls were chatting comfortably in little pairs — America and Cassie catching up as Cassie told her about her training with Scott and Logan and America promised to take her to a dimension where she could hit things to her heart's content in relative safety, since it wasn't well-inhabited except for a few resilient rat-like creatures at the edge of the universe. Jubilee and Kitty were also absorbed in their own little conversation, trading half-giggled stories about Kurt as they were clearly both over-the-moon excited for him and for Kate.

And Kate simply watched the little pairs as she drummed her fingers against the side of her leg. They'd long ago stopped paying attention to whatever movie they'd put on the TV, but she could hear the music playing quietly and used the beat of the background to practice cycling her breathing. Four beats in ... hold…..

"You look like you're just about ready to shoot," Kitty said as she gingerly took a seat next to Kate.

Kate raised an eyebrow and then managed a little smile her way. "Breath cycles," she explained, trying to sound casual about it.

"Yeah, I'm aware. I had to learn that early on. So..." she said, watching her from the corner of her eye, "...how nervous are you, and how can I help?"

Kate let out her breath in a little laugh. "I'm that obvious?" she asked ruefully. "I was trying to be discreet."

"In this room? Look around you. Might work somewhere else, but you have the Black Widow, your best friends, a ninja, and a frikkin' feral that _no one_ can lie to."

"Good point." Kate let out a little laugh and leaned forward. "I guess I can only blame myself for _that_ particular arrangement." She bit her lip for a moment and looked over at where the two older women were steadfastly _not_ listening in as they chatted far off. "It's just ... you know…. _Tomorrow_. Tomorrow's this huge, life-changing…"

"Do you want to hear how so far no one has had major trouble — and even our panicked little Viking managed to make it through in one piece?"

"I'm not worried anyone's gonna crash it or anything," Kate said with a smirk. "I mean, the only person who might is currently in rehab."

"I know you can't be worried about _Kurt_ ," Kitty said, her nose scrunched up to more fully illustrate just what a ridiculous idea _that_ was.

"Definitely not," she agreed fervently.

"Well, he's the only one you should be thinking about," Kitty pointed out.

Kate let out all her breath and leaned forward. "You're right... But I'm still five seconds away from a heart attack just the same," she admitted. "This was _not_ in my plans for my future. Like. Anywhere."

"Well, plans change," she said. "Usually for the better."

"Yeah, I know." Kate ran a hand through her hair and grinned nervously. "You know ... it's like… I fight bad guys on a daily basis, so what the heck am I scared of? I don't even _know_."

"Nerves," Kitty decided.

"Apparently." She grinned at Kitty. "It'll be easier tomorrow, right? This is just last-minute panic? Tell me it's just last-minute panic."

Kitty shrugged lightly. "I'm the wrong person to ask. I really don't know."

"I mean, I'm still so totally marrying him tomorrow. I just want to know if I'm going to be this…" Kate waved her hand. "You know. Don't want to walk into a pew or something."

"You might need to ask one of the married ladies for that," Kitty said. "I can go get Annie if you like."

"No, that's okay," Kate said quickly, shaking her head. "I'll just ... get over it, I guess." She grinned at Kitty and waved her hand. "This is so the wrong conversation to be having. We should be … I don't know. Teasing someone. About something. _Anything_."

"Pick your target," Kitty offered.

She took a second to think it over and then grinned. "So, Jubes, when're you and Noh getting on the glitter train?"

"About five minutes after you do," Jubilee replied without a moment of hesitation.

"No, no, you have to lead out in these things. You know how I am. Visual learner. Need to see someone else do the pregnant lady waddle, and K's too tiny for the proper effect."

"Wel,l we _do_ have a little feral for role model," Jubilee said.

"I don't know." Kate tipped her head and pretended to study Jubilee. "I mean ... I don't think we've ever seen a half-Kree little bitty around here… could be more fun than the tiny feral who isn't even really showing much."

"I'm starting to think that whole pregnancy thing was a lie," Jubilee said with a nod.

"Just a way to get married to Logan without letting us know she really couldn't wait any longer?" Kate said with a wicked grin.

"I curse you both," K finally said with a little growl. "Glitter for both of you by the dumptruck."

"So rude." Kate pretended to wipe the glitter off her shoulders as America cackled.

"Douse her again — she's marrying a _good_ Catholic boy," America called K's way.

"This crap sticks," K promised. "If it doesn't hit her, it comes _standard_ on good Catholic boys."

"You're both horrible," Kate said, laughing as she pointed a finger at each of them in accusation.

"That's what you get for vicious accusations like that," K told her.

"Me? Vicious accusations?" Kate put on her best innocent voice. "I'll have you know I _never_ do any such thing. Just ask Radar O'Reilly."

"You just freakin' accused me of _faking_ a damn pregnancy," K said, sticking her nose up in the air. "I don't need to ask anyone anything."

"Well, I _do_ work in the same industry as J. Jonah Jameson," she said with a perfectly innocent look. "Must be rubbing off. Next thing you know, I'll be sporting the moustache and turning purple."

"I can help with half of that," K offered as she pointed a finger her way.

"I know where to buy fake moustaches on my own," Kate countered with a careless laugh.

"That's not the part I was going to help with," she replied with a wicked smirk. "I'm having a few anger issues no one can hold against me right now."

"Turning big and green on me? I thought you said you could help with purple," Kate laughed.

"C'mere and we'll find out."

"Not the night before the wedding," Natasha said with a smirk, breaking in at last to restore at least some sense of order.

"I promise not to make a mark that will show for at least … two days." K said with a smile, resting her hand on Natasha's arm. "It'll hurt right now, though."

"You'll have that poor boy thinking _he_ hurt her," Natasha said with a low, wicked smile. "When it starts to show up on the honeymoon."

K shrugged. "He'll probably blame it on his half demon side. And I'm okay with that."

"So mean," America said, though her smirk said that she wasn't the least bit bothered.

"How 'bout we just don't?" Kate said, both of her hands held up. She pretended to shake out her hair. "You already got me with the glitter. Cut me some slack — I'm getting married tomorrow."

K looked down her nose at her for a moment. "Fine. But if you try to pull a runner, I get to hunt you down."

Kate put a hand over her heart. "Hey, I have nerves, not cold feet. There's a difference," she insisted. "No running — even if I _am_ wearing those shoes you got me." She grinned a bit wider. "Something blue, after all."

"Just keep in mind I'm still feeling a titch mean," K warned. "Rotten luck."

"Threatening a bride. Really," Cassie broke in with a little laugh and a warm smile.

"She'll threaten anyone," Natasha said with a light shrug. "Always has."

Kate waved her hand at Cassie. "I'm used to getting threats at weddings," she said with a smirk Kitty's way. Even so, she slipped over to where Cassie was and threw her arm over her friend's shoulders. "C'mon. We should pop some more popcorn. I think I'm in the mood for something horribly wonderful… like _The Mummy_ or something."


	4. Kiss Yourself a Catholic Boy

**Notes: HI, O! *waves enthusiastically* Here it is!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: "Alright, Kate, Kiss Yourself a Catholic Boy"**

* * *

That morning, the beautiful, old, ornate cathedral was positively filled with heroes and their friends for the wedding itself. The cathedral had never seen a gathering quite like that one, especially since some of the heroes still had secret identities and were attending in dresses and suits complete with masks. There were plenty of hugs and warm greetings exchanged before the processional, as old teammates and friends celebrated together — it really was a sight to see.

When the processional began, it was clear to everyone in attendance that Kurt was simply ecstatic, because his tail seemed to have gotten away from him as he and Logan entered the church, and Logan just kept smirking at his best friend. Kurt was wearing a wider smile than he'd had on at any of the previous weddings, including the ones he officiated — and of course, that didn't escape _anyone's_ notice. Most of those in attendance that knew him were elated; they knew that Kurt had wanted this peace and happiness for so long, and they couldn't help but get excited with him.

Then came the procession of the bridesmaids and groomsmen, led out by K and Scott. Those who had been at Logan and K's wedding had to smirk at seeing the two of them walking down another aisle arm in arm — and those who weren't were either confused by seeing Cyclops with Wolverine's wife or laughing at the significant height difference between the two of them that seemed not to bother them in the least as they never missed a step. Natasha and Hank were right behind them, and then Jubilee was merrily all but skipping along with Bobby, while Kitty and Billy were half laughing at the two in front of them as they came down. And Cassie and America, as joint maids of honor, brought up the end of the processional in their brilliantly purple dresses.

There was no flower girl for this wedding — not because there weren't options, but because the bamfs couldn't come into the cathedral, not when they were creatures of hell, after all, and so Kate and Kurt had promised them that they could handle the flowers. They were fully expecting an explosion of petals as soon as they exited the cathedral, of course, but for now, that just meant that little Gerry was very solemnly and carefully doing his best 'important' strut down the aisle with the rings as Jess tried to help him and he kept saying, "Mommy, I GOT it."

The gathered guests couldn't help but laugh at the very Barton-like kid toddling down the aisle, so when it came time for Kate to make her entrance, it was very nearly the perfect setup for her to have asked Clint to give her away. She had a death grip on his arm as the doors opened, but he was _beaming_ almost as much as he usually did when he was showing off pictures of Gerry.

Of course, Kate's death grip relaxed with every step, though anyone in the room with enhanced hearing could hear that, underneath the music, Clint was whispering to her to keep putting one foot in front of the other until they finally reached Kurt, and the older Hawkeye gently handed her over with a whispered "You got this, Katie Kate" before he kissed her cheek and stepped back.

Those who were standing closest to Kate and Kurt could see that neither of them was paying _any_ attention to anything at all as soon as Clint had placed her hands in Kurt's. They were just… staring at each other. Kurt looked like he might just float away, and Kate was finally breaking into a smile of her own instead of the nervous, controlled breathing she'd been doing until that point — and the sparkle in both their gazes was impossible to miss, too.

They stayed that way through the entire opening hymn as well as Father Murray's remarks, though when Storm got up to do a reading from Genesis, the Goddess' obvious affection for the two of them was bleeding through every word and made it impossible not to look her way as she looked just as proud as if she was the one who'd made the wedding happen.

Of course, the assembled guests weren't surprised in the least to find that the Psalm the two of them had chosen was "On Eagle's Wings," because of course, Kate couldn't possibly pass up a chance to take a parting shot at her codename, even in a ceremony like this one. (Which, to hear her tell it, was entirely true, since she had been the one to encourage Kate to follow Kurt and Logan on their adventures back when they first met.)

Tyler got up to read from Romans next — and then Father Murray read from John and spoke about the love of God as well as the love the two of them shared, all while Kate started to bounce slightly in place on the tips of her toes, now in a full on excited grin instead of the nerves that had plagued her all morning. It was clear to everyone that she wanted to get a _move on_ and get past the readings to the good stuff.

Finally, it was time for the most important part as Father Murray looked between the two of them for the declarations of consent, though there was no mistaking the pause just after he asked if they would "accept children lovingly from God," and Kate looked fairly pink as she gave the expected "I will" along with a slightly purple Kurt. After all, all things considered, that… wasn't something they were exactly prepared for.

But the moment passed, and the two then joined hands as Kate started up her slight bounce again now that the part about kids was past — and the positively beaming priest took a step back for the two of them to exchange 'statements' before the covenant vows.

Kurt squeezed Kate's hand for a moment as he looked like he was threatening to burst. "Kate Bishop," he said, his voice rough with emotion the second he opened his mouth that had Kate's own eyes shining with just those two words. "For some time, I wondered just what plan the Lord had in mind when He saw fit to give me a second chance at this life — and seeing you here, now, I think I begin to understand something of His mysteries. I only pray that I can live up to that monumental trust, to stay by your side on the grand adventures you are destined for."

Kate was simply grinning now, almost unable to do anything else before she finally got hold of herself enough to at least try and go through the vows she'd written, though she just… wanted to hurry up and kiss herself an Elf at that point.

"K-Kurt Wagner," she managed, surprised when it took her a second to get her mouth to work right when apparently she was fairly brimming with emotion — all kinds of it churning in her chest. She took a breath, bit her lip, and broke into a crooked smile. "Sorry it took so long to get you here," she said, the smile spreading up to her eyes. "I realized I was in love with you the first time we came here to Germany, and honestly, it's only gotten better from there. So I'm pretty sure we're in for one amazing ride, you and me." She smiled with her tongue between her teeth. " _Ich liebe dich für immer und ewig_ , Fuzzy Elf."

When it was clear the two of them were ready to float off into cloud nine, Father Murray stepped forward again with the official vows, though it was a miracle Kate was even paying enough attention to say "I do" when the time came, as she was back to her excited bouncing. Not that Kurt was far behind her, simply staring at Kate in awe and unable to stop smiling as he watched her. Whatever nerves she might have had — whatever nerves _he_ might have had because of it — it was clear she was past them, and that she wanted this just as much as he did. And he couldn't help but say a little prayer of thanks just to himself that this had all fallen into place for them both.

When they brought the rings forward, little Gerry was so proud of his role in the wedding that he couldn't help but shout, "Mawwy her! I bwoughted wings" before Father Murray was quite finished blessing the rings. Which got a little laugh out of Kate and a low chuckle from Kurt.

Kurt was all but glowing as he slid the ring onto Kate's finger with a half-whispered declaration of, "Kate, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Kate, on the other hand, said her part much louder, only whispering when she was finished to say, just loud enough for Kurt and the priest (and anyone with enhance hearing) to hear, "So can I kiss you now?"

Father Murray chuckled at that and nodded as he tipped his head Kurt's way with a grin. "You may now kiss the bride" was very nearly drowned out by a little giggle as Kate fairly threw her arms around Kurt's neck and spent probably a hair too long sealing the ceremony with a kiss — though whether that was because of the jump and the fact that Kurt had to pick her up because of it or because Kurt was already wrapping his tail around her legs to keep her there, it was honestly a toss-up. Neither of them could stop _grinning_ , and it was obvious that they had stopped thinking about anything but each other long ago.

For the newlyweds, everything after that was a bit of a blissful blur as Father Murray blessed their new union with a prayer and everyone made a sign of peace — and by the time they got out of the cathedral, they had very nearly forgotten about the bamfs waiting outside before they were simply covered in purple and blue violets, from head to toe, as soon as they stepped foot off the church grounds.

The rather large and impressive gathering of heroes and friends and family then headed off to party — and with Avengers, X-Men, and everyone in between in attendance, it was safe to say there was going to be a _party_.

America was taking her maid of honor duties just about as seriously as she could be expected — which meant that she had introduced the wedding guests very quickly to the tradition of tapping your glass with your silverware to get Kate and Kurt to kiss, and she made sure that if there was ever half a second of not-kissing, she'd do the glass tapping herself while the rest of the guests ate. Though she definitely had enthusiastic helpers in some of the young ones in attendance, who loved the fact that they were _allowed_ to bang on glasses — especially Charlie and Chance, who were trying to hit each other's plastic cups to follow America's lead.

And of course, once everyone was fairly full, America made very sure that she was the first to give a toast, grinning widely as she turned their way by the time she was finished talking about how 'awesome' Kate was to tip her head at the newlyweds. "Glad you found yourself a handsome prince, Princess," she said before she looked over at Kurt with a raised eyebrow. "Try not to get too carried off by the handsome pirate, huh?" she teased before she grinned again, laughed, and sat back down before she prodded Cassie with her foot to get the much younger girl to stand and give her own little toast.

"You know, Kate's the whole reason I'm even in the superhero business," Cassie admitted with a small smile. "I was fourteen and didn't know what the heck I was doing — and I still remember she told me that when life hands you an opportunity, you don't run away from it." She gave Kate a little look. "Glad she's finally listening to her own advice, especially when it's something that makes her this happy."

For a moment, Logan just smirked Kurt's way before quite suddenly, he began to speak. "Even though you two really haven't known each other for too long, this really has been a long time comin'." He let out a little sigh before he continued. "To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was ever going to have to do this for you, especially after we lost you for so long. But. If I'd have thought this little pain in the ass was what it was going to take to make you happy, I'd have fought heaven and hell to help make it happen." With that, he looked at Kate. "Welcome to the family, Hawkeye. Can't imagine it without you now. Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Elf."

With Kate and Kurt properly speechless and blushing by then, it was time to move on from the mushy stuff to the dancing, as Peter Parker put it, and no one was surprised to find that Noh had set up a perfect little dancing hall and was already waiting for the word to get the music started as Kurt offered Kate his hand and the two of them spun out onto the floor in an elegant waltz to "Marry Me."

It wasn't long before the rest of the assembled heroes came out onto the dance floor to join them — led out by Clint, who insisted on stealing Kate away for a dance in which he pretended the entire time that he was _not_ crying, thank you very much, and K slipped forward and pulled Kurt onto the dance floor with just a teasing warning about no teleporting while she kept him warmed up for Kate.

After that, it seemed there were a few others who wanted their turns as Gerry insisted he wanted to dance with Auntie Kate — and Kitty wanted to dance with Kurt and spend most of the dance excited on his behalf and hugging him repeatedly. Wade wanted a dance with _both_ of them… Though Cassie had apparently teamed up with Clint to make it their mission to make sure the newlyweds _did_ actually get to dance with each other, and Kurt couldn't help but chuckle when the normally soft-spoken blonde put her foot down with Wade and insisted that it was time to give Kurt back to his new bride.

As it ws, Wade was trying to dance with everyone, it seemed, and he didn't seem to care if he cut in, either. He had managed to snag a dance with both Spidermen by the time he worked over to where K and Logan were slowly spinning and talking in low tones, and he simply tried to insert himself in between them with a wide grin.

"'Scuse me, cutting in — can I have this dance?" he said, extending his hand, though it was clear he wasn't actually asking; he was already grabbing onto Logan's arm with the other to try and pull him into a far faster dance than what the song would have called for.

"Get off me, you lunatic," Logan growled out as he yanked his arm back.

"Everybody's trading partners," Wade whined.

"I'm not," Logan said. "Go bug someone else."

Wade looked like he was going to argue some more, but Clint had somehow made his way over by then. "Hey. Come on, we talked about this."

"Yeah…." Wade let out a long, loud, clearly disappointed sigh. "But everybody's trading partners!"

"Not everyone," Clint pointed out. "Most of the married ones are sticking with each other. Look around."

Wade did just that and then blew out his breath, his shoulders slumping, though by the time he turned back to Clint, he had a grin back on. "That why you and the Widow have danced every dance?" he asked, the mask moving with him as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Yep," Logan said. "That's exactly it, Wade. Spread it around."

Wade turned to Logan with a salute. "Oh, yes sir, munitions officer, sir," he said before he bounded off toward the other guests with a grin.

"Thanks for the bus, Wolverine. Really appreciate that," Clint said with a dry look Logan's way.

"Consider it payback for the handsy routine you let him get away with."

"Not saying I don't deserve payback for that, but don't drag _Tasha_ down with me," Clint laughed.

"Awful protective for just a buddy," Logan teased. "Think she can't take it?"

"I know she can. Problem is she'll run with it," Clint countered.

"So how is that a problem?" K asked. "Afraid she won't follow through?"

Clint looked her way for a second and didn't hesitate before he said, "Nah. Just know she'll only say it because she's teasing, and I don't want her to... You know, not unless she means it."

"Hey knucklehead," Logan said as he leaned closer. "She means it."

Clint raised his eyebrows at Logan and then broke into a small smile. "Anyway, I'll keep Wade off your scent," he said, gesturing to where the merc with the mouth was regaling Piotr with tales of tiny, tiny purple-suited ballerinas before he took off at not quite a run to go tell someone else about the "lil' muffins."

The two newlyweds did get a break from dancing at last, though, when it was time to cut the cake — though the bamfs announced that it was time to do this by teleporting the cake right in front of them and holding it up for inspection, clearly ready to eat some of it themselves, if the little finger marks in the icing were any indication.

One of the bamfs offered Kurt his tiny little blade instead of a knife for use in cutting the cake, which had both Kate and Kurt grinning as they carved out a little bit of the chocolate with white icing. Kurt carefully and politely held out the cake for Kate to take a bite before he scooped half the icing off with one finger and wiped it off on her nose. She responded with a giggle as she took Kurt's piece and simply smashed it into his face, which only got him to laugh as he wrapped her up and kissed her properly so that they both had icing and cake all over their faces.

After that, Cassie made sure to get all the ladies lined up for the bouquet toss — while Kate and Kurt "got cleaned up."

While the still single people gathered up grinning and teasing each other, the little group of married team members gathered to watch together, talking quietly among themselves. Everyone seemed to be holding onto their respective significant others tightly — though none quite as sweetly as Teddy and Billy, who were both grinning at each other over their old teammate's marriage and clearly a bit emotional themselves over the whole thing.

Kate wasn't the least bit surprised when, after she tossed the flowers over her shoulder, she heard plenty of shouts of annoyance and turned around to see that Wade had all but dived into the group to catch the bouquet himself — and he wasn't about to relinquish his hard-won goods, either.

Kate just laughed and shrugged. "He can keep it," she said. Cassie wrinkled her nose at her friend, but Wade looked so over-the-moon grateful that it was really kind of worth it, especially when he spun her into a laughing hug and kissed her cheek.

Somebody had found a chair for Kate to sit in as Kurt knelt in front of her for the garter toss, an impish grin on his face as he didn't even need to be prompted to take the delicate lace in his pointed teeth — though both Wade and Clint were sure to prompt him anyway.

When he tossed the garter over his head, Wade looked like he might try to catch it too, but the bamfs had caught on to his little tricks and got there first, teleporting into the path of the garter and then poofing back right in front of Henry to make sure he got it in the chest with a surprised sort of "oh" as Tyler looked on with raised eyebrows when his mom just grinned that much wider.

Kate and Kurt shared one last dance after that before Noh announced that it was time for them to leave — at which point most of the guests more or less swarmed to throw rice at the two of them before Kurt could teleport them out of there, so that they were completely and totally covered by the time they got clear enough that he could teleport them off to a little Pacific island without accidentally taking anyone with them.

Kate was still shaking bits of rice out of her hair when they arrived on the white sandy beaches, though she didn't get a chance to vocalize her teasing complaint, because as soon as they got there, Kurt swept her up in his arms and wrapped her in a kiss as he carried her off toward the beach house.

….

Translations from German:

" _Ich liebe dich für immer und ewig_ , Fuzzy Elf." - I love you forever and ever, Fuzzy Elf.


	5. Return of the Santa Stark

**Notes: *grinning madly* We're so glad that you liked the wedding! We've been building up to it for so long now that we're glad the payoff was worth it.**

 **O, you're totally right: Gerry speaks for all of us when we say HURRY UP AND BE MARRIED lol. And yes, we totally know the happy noises :D**

 **Griezz, seriously, so glad that the build-up paid off. It took us a lot of time to get them here, and we're excited to show you where it goes now that everyone is happily married. Of course, you're right: the Hank-Daisy romance is definitely going to keep building, and Ty loves Hank, but let's be real. Daisy doesn't stalk her prey. Hank comes to her with flowers and Shakespeare :P**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: "Return of the Santa Stark"**

* * *

It was Christmas morning when the newlyweds finally returned — after two weeks in the tropics and a midnight Mass in Germany. They were both a bit jetlagged by the time they arrived, but they had teleported into the kitchen to grab some coffee to get them through.

K had taken over the kitchen and had frankly taken most of the X-Men by surprise when she decided to put together what she swore was a semi-traditional Swedish Christmas morning. No one was complaining, though, since apparently, it simply meant large cinnamon rolls and platters of Swedish pancakes with lingonberries and whipped cream. And on seeing Kate, K simply handed her an empty mug and welcomed them back with a kiss and coffee.

"Quite the welcome home," Kurt said with a smile as he looked over all the breakfast platters. "Is this a tradition?"

"Yes," K replied. "Smells like home, so …" She shrugged up to one ear. "I'm trying."

"Well, I'm a fan of this tradition," Kate said happily, drinking in the wonderful smells as she grinned around the kitchen.

"Same here," said Peter happily as he popped into the kitchen. "So glad I decided to drop by and see what's cooking."

"Eat something then," K said before she refilled her mug and made her way to Logan, which just got a broad grin out of Peter as he headed right for the cinnamon rolls.

Slowly, the rest of the mansion residents arrived, drawn in by the _delicious_ smells coming out of the kitchen. Everyone was in a great holiday mood, though the best was when the Summers twins outdistanced their parents, announcing their arrival with little giggles as they both ran into the kitchen, only half wearing the cute Christmas outfits that Annie had clearly picked out for them as they went right for K when they saw the chance for 'sweets'.

"This all looks amazing," Annie said as she finally arrived, looking a bit worn out already despite how early it was — and still holding the Christmas sweater that Chance had managed to escape wearing in his mad dash.

"Have some coffee and try some," K suggested. "You know. When you sit down and relax."

Annie had to laugh a bit as she finally got hold of Chance, who was already very, very sticky from the cinnamon roll K had given him. "They're pretty excited about their first Christmas," she explained as Scott on the other side of the kitchen finally managed to wrangle a madly giggling Charlie.

"Well, it _is_ a pretty big deal when it's your first," Peter pointed out, leaning over to tickle Chance with a grin.

"Pidey no," Chance managed between giggles, which only seemed to spur on Spidey as Annie let him take over on playing with the little guy so she could actually get something to eat for herself.

Charlie had finally calmed down enough to let Scott get a bite to eat too, though when she wriggled free, it was to climb over to K and crawl up in her lap and gently pat the steadily growing bump. "Baby?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Yep," K replied. "Just like every time you ask." She tickled the little girl into a fit of belly laughs before she let her go.

"It's a very cute baby bump," Jubilee said with a grin and a nod as she snagged one of the twins for her own — the assembled X-Men were always happy to spoil the youngest among them.

"You're biased," K accused.

"Terribly," Jubilee agreed with an even wider grin as she leaned over to grin at K's bump. "Can't wait for the tiny little Wolvie — boy _or_ girl, you're going to be _so_ spoiled rotten."

"Well with you and Noh around, that doesn't surprise me in the least," K said, leaning her head against Logan's shoulder.

"You know he's so psyched for being a big brother," Kate said, laughing when Noh grinned a bit wider and nodded in response.

"I'll be sure the little one has a proper education," he assured K. "He or she will be able to fly a spacecraft by the time they can walk."

"Oh good — I was concerned they might have to wait for me to learn first."

Jubilee snorted as Noh looked her over with an honest offer of, "If you want to learn, you need only ask."

"Not any time in the immediate future," Logan rumbled out as K pointed to him and very obviously mouthed out 'over protective and paranoid'.

"I could set up a simulation," Noh offered.

"Eew, no. Noh, my darling glimmering moon beam ... no. Go big or go home. No sims. Just … Eeeew." K was pulling a face as she shook her head. "That sounds entirely too much like Scotty to be fun."

"I'd be more insulted if it wasn't Christmas," Scott said with a little grin. "But I think I'll let it pass."

"Tomorrow's Boxing Day," K said innocently. "Wanna box?"

"I'd lose," Scott said with a shrug, still grinning her way.

"C'mon, I wanna hit something."

"And you're welcome to hit Scott here, but I don't think he'd hit back," Kate pointed out with a smirk.

"Well, that just takes the fun out of it," K said.

"I'll take you on in May," Scott offered.

"May? Why May? I'll be ready to go as soon as this is over," she said. "And Hank said the metal issue might speed that up."

"Then April if you're early," Scott said. "But I like to plan for the safer margin."

"Safer for who?" Logan asked suddenly with a frown. "Did you stop to factor in that she might be a helluva lot meaner once this is over?"

Annie laughed and put a hand on Scott's arm before he could argue. "Why don't you save your boxing match for _next_ Boxing Day?" she suggested. "Give K time to settle out," she added with a little look Logan's way.

"We'll sell tickets," Kate said with a little smirk.

Scott laughed. "We'll see how it goes next year," he said before he got a bit distracted by Chance accidentally knocking over Annie's glass of orange juice and had to sweep up his little boy to get him cleaned up.

After that, everyone got a bit distracted with their own Christmas conversations — or with watching Remy playing with Charlie when he arrived with the group as well. The little girl seemed to be totally in love with the resident Cajun, and she had somehow managed to charm her way into playing with his headband — not that Remy minded at all.

And, of course, Chance and his quest to run away from Scott was never not entertaining — and Storm finally catching the little boy and getting him showered off _her_ way … well, that had the whole group laughing, including Chance himself as he simply fell apart in giggles.

So everyone was in a good mood when the doorbell rang, and the group at large shared confused looks, since they were all present, as far as they knew.

"Are you expecting anyone?" K asked as she turned to look at Logan, coffee mug still in hand, but he just shook his head no.

"Perfect," Scott grumbled. "Unannounced visitor on Christmas morning. That … is not how I wanted to start the day."

"I'll start it for you," K called out, though Logan had already pulled her onto his lap to stop her from going anywhere.

Scott shook his head and continued on his way to the entry. He half held his breath, wondering if it was going to be Kate's sister poking around to cause trouble again, but when he saw Tony there — again in his Santa Claus hat and this time with a much larger assortment of gifts — he had to shake his head. "I thought I told you to call ahead," Scott said dryly.

"Really, Summers? You're going to turn away Santa on Christmas morning? What kind of upbringing did you have, exactly?" Stark replied as he stepped past Scott and waved his helpers — this time wearing green elf hats — into the entryway to drop off his packages.

When Scott looked torn between kicking him out and finding out what the story was, Tony explained. "I realize that last time I came through bearing gifts ... I might have left out a few people. So this time, I brought stuff for the little ones in addition to my favorite X-Men."

"Both of your favorites are now married women, Tony," Scott said with his arms crossed.

"Both of them? Really?" Stark made a face. "I don't remember getting an invite." Tony smirked Scott's way as he walked around him and made his way to the kitchen, where he stopped and grinned at the gathered group of X-Men. "What's the deal with you guys? Every time I show up, you have a full-on meal-fit-for-an-army going on."

"Annie's fault entirely," Kate said without hesitation.

"Not this time," Annie defended, though she clearly wasn't sorry in the least about the accusation and even looked fairly proud of herself.

" _This_ time," Kate said, still grinning at her friend. "But let's be real — you totally spoiled us into this state."

"Not that we're complaining," Peter said quickly.

"I don't know how you can call what I do _spoiling_ ," Annie said, though she was blushing with pleasure as she picked up some of the little Swedish crepes. "I'm pretty sure it's just … taking care of everyone."

"What brings you way out here on an otherwise family centric holiday, Tony?" K cut in before she took a long sip of her coffee. "And where's the phone call? We talked about that."

He shrugged a little and helped himself to a cup of coffee before he sat down across from her. "I figured that presents should show up as early as possible — to keep from, you know, crashing dinner again." He grinned over at the Summers twins being wrangled by Storm and Remy. "Those kids were really sweet."

"Hope you brought something for _all_ of them," Jubilee sang out as she danced in her chair.

"I don't think I missed anyone," Tony said, listing off all of the kids from last year's Christmas dinner party by name — impressing Scott far more than he was willing to let on — before he turned to Kate with a grin. "And Hawkeye. And K. That's all of them."

"I'd be insulted I was still considered a kid ... but you brought me presents, so... Is it a pony?" Kate asked with a wide-eyed, innocent look.

"It could be," he replied with a grin and a wild sparkle in his eyes.

She pretended to consider it for a second before she laughed and waved him off. "Nah. Much rather have explosions any day," she decided.

"Well that's good, because I brought you some more neat little arrows," Tony said. "Shockers. They'll shoot microfilament wires on impact that electrocute anything touching them — so even if they're wearing rubber soles, the filaments will climb up their legs or whatever. A direct hit will wrap around them."

Kate's eyes were wide and sparkling as she grinned from ear to ear. "That. Is. _Awesome_."

" _And_ a modified putty arrow," he told her. "Sticky. Very, very sticky. But still flexible. It coats them in a fine layer, and then absolutely _everything_ will stick to them. Imagine creepo trying to hide against a wall — stuck. He can get in the car and drive — maybe. But then he can't get out. Really more for comic effect, I suppose, but still."

"Well." Kate grinned at him, still nearly laughing. "I _am_ a Hawkeye." She grinned crookedly over at Scott. "And just imagine doing that to a tracksuit."

"I took the liberty of making the goop purple, so there's no mistake on who nailed them, either," Tony said with a smirk. "Not that anyone else has these."

She grinned even wider and blew him a kiss outright. "Favorite Santa," she declared. "I'm going to need about, oh, a dozen tracksuits and a video camera… you should come in for breakfast while I plan how to destroy my boss with laughter."

"The last video is on a loop now," Scott put in, wearing a bit more of the grin he'd had before from the start to the Christmas morning at the reminder. "For when I'm having a bad day."

"Then the new one needs to be looped too. I'll call it 'Seriously: The Return.'"

"Ooh, and I'll mesh the two of them together and call it 'Seriously: The Remix'," Peter said with a laugh.

Kate clapped her hands together and rubbed them. "Yes. Perfect."

"How about you use something else entirely," Logan suggested with a little frown. "That thing was the stupidest clip I've ever seen."

"Only because you were in it," Kate countered, her hands on her hips.

"Oh, now I _have_ to see it," Tony said with a wide grin. "Can that be my Christmas present, pretty please?"

Scott was grinning obnoxiously as he pulled out his phone. "Well, since you asked nicely," he said as he sent it off — his earlier frustration with Tony completely gone at the chance to laugh a little at Logan's expense.

"Are you kidding me?" Logan said with an exasperated look Scott's way.

K simply looked up at him and gave him a kiss as she patted his knee. "Pretty sure your ego will heal," she said with a smirk. "Eventually."

"I've got something for you too, sweetheart," Tony said K's way with a smirk.

"I'll bet you do," K shot back without a pause. "But I'm not sure that's going to work too well for you."

Tony's phone chimed and drew his attention for a moment, but as he caught sight of Kate bouncing in her chair, he knew it had to be something worth watching. "Hold that thought," he said as he opened up the message from Scott. Kate didn't even try to hide it as she rushed over to watch it with him. "Oh my God ... this thing … this should be on a loop everywhere all the time," Tony said with a laugh as the 'bro, seriously, bro! Yo!' started in rapid succession. He was chuckling to himself and then outright laughing as the tempo picked up until he had tears rolling down his cheeks and was clearly having trouble catching his breath.

Kate was half supporting Tony with one hand on his back and grinning ear to ear. "Merry Christmas, Santa Stark," she said with a wide, troublemaking smile.

It took him a few minutes to control himself, but it was short-lived, because when he looked across the table to K and Logan, he just started giggling all over again. "How do you guys even _live_ together? I saw you laughing on the tape, Logan."

"Stupidest simulation ever," Logan muttered.

"Best. _Best_ simulation ever," Kate corrected him. "I still use it sometimes for hand-to-hand practice."

"Not lately though," K said. "I reprogrammed part of it. When you hit any one of them half a dozen times, they start getting more vocal." She looked over at Kurt. "I was going to reprogram it — or make a new version — where when you hit them enough times they split into two, smaller dudes, and go up a fifth in pitch. Lather. Rinse. Repeat."

"Ooh. Now I've gotta do it again," Kate said, grinning. "We'll make a second one just for the second option, though. Keep the original. But that other one? Oh, yes please."

"Naturally," K agreed. "I can't wait until they're like ... four inches tall and sound like screaming chipmunks. Like a video game."

Tony was grinning before he got back to where he was headed before. "And you — I brought you a new gun."

"Oooh, sounds like something fun already," K replied. "Are you playing favorites again, or looking for a new assistant?"

Tony shook his head with a little grin. "Hey, the specs you asked for — how could I pass it up? It's got the DNA coding, but this one is good for up to three people, _and_ it's a rifle, for longer shots. It has a scope that Thor said was magic — though, he may not strictly be sure what he's talking about because I do _not_ remember sprinkling any fairy dust in there. It's range is over five miles." Tony was grinning like a cheshire cat by the time he finished his description.

"Must have happened the last time the bamfs broke into the lab," Kurt said with a smirk. "The magic, that is."

"If magic smells like brimstone, then I'll thank you to keep it out of my lab," Tony replied. "That suit had to be scrapped after they did to and in it."

The bamfs were in stitches giggling behind Kurt as Kurt looked only mildly surprised. "I'm very sorry to hear it," he said straight-faced as the bamfs fell apart even harder.

"It's fine; gave me something to work on," Tony replied with a wave before he turned back to K. "But, this gun — the rounds are like the other one … except I made a case of tank killers — just in case. And some of those electrical charges like Hawkeye has — but of course with a bigger span on the filaments, because, well — bigger weapon. Wanna see it?"

K nodded her head and gave Logan a kiss as Tony jumped to his feet and headed back to the entry where the case was. "Who are the other two you want to put on this thing?" Tony asked. He hadn't turned to look at K, who had pulled her flannel shirt half closed, though hiding the bump was not going to work for long at _all._

"Logan," K half called out before she raised her voice for her second choice. "Annie? Can you come here with Logan?"

Annie picked up her head in surprise. "Oh — yes, what can I do?"

K turned to Tony with her arms crossed over her chest. "You can explain it better than I can." Tony grinned at the compliment and led Annie closer to the large silver case.

"Our feral friend here has chosen you to be one of the authorized shooters on this gun," Tony said. "It'll only work for the three of you. If anyone else tries to shoot it... The first time, nothing happens to them. The second time? It'll shock them on their ass. No one's been brave enough to try the third time yet."

Annie looked wide-eyed first at Tony and then the gun. "Oh! Are you… _me_?"

"Of course," K said as she stepped up and let Tony guide her on where the gun 'wanted' to register her as authorized before Logan stepped up and repeated the process, only to hold it out for Annie when the process was completed for him.

"Makes perfect sense to me," Logan said. "I know your Dad taught you to shoot."

Annie had to smirk a bit at that. "Well. Nobody messes with the Hale sisters," she said.

"Another fine reason," Logan agreed. "Go ahead. It's a solid way for you to help if it comes down to something nasty — and I'm sure Tony'll show you which rounds are which." Tony nodded in agreement over Logan's shoulder.

"No one else can take it from you either. Well, no one outside of these two," Tony specified. "Not even me."

Annie's eyebrows were practically scraping her hairline. "Oh ... well. Oh… thank you," she said at last.

"Don't you want a way to blast Sinister if you had a weapon?" K asked. "This … it's like picking daisies. Fire? Electricity? Explosive? Who knows what mood you'll be in." She grinned Annie's way for a moment before the little Southern spit fire took the gun from Logan.

"And you said I could blow that man up with this?" Annie asked with a very new kind of sparkle in her gaze.

"You can blow him up, light him on fire, and fry the charred chunks," Tony said with a smirk. "But I'd ask that if you do ... take a picture of your homework for me. That big game hunter pose is on my desk right now." At that, he turned to K. "So. Do I get a hug?"

K smirked and nodded. "Of course," she said before she uncrossed her arms and Tony wrapped her up in a tight hug — only to pause when he felt the obvious bump. "Don't worry," K whispered. "It's not yours."

He let out a nervous bark of a laugh and let her go just to hold her at arm's length. "I thought that was just a … vicious rumor." He looked over at Logan and shook his head, wide-eyed. "When did you two …. Cyclops said you got married … he didn't say a _word_ about this."

"It's not my secret to tell," Scott said as if this was obvious.

"And it's not exactly secret," K said. "Not like I can hide it anyhow."

"Not anymore," Scott agreed. "But it's still your announcement to share on your terms." He shrugged and grinned for a second.

"Whatever, Scotty," K said with a wave. "You know you can tell people that _count._ "

"Well,. If he'd told me that a little earlier, I wouldn't have _armed_ a pregnant woman," Tony said. "That's … that's dangerous."

"You're right. I was _totally_ harmless before," K said with a raised eyebrow.

"Besides, it's Christmas. These are presents for the _year,_ and it's not like she's gonna _stay this way_ forever," Kate pointed out.

"I better not," K half growled Logan's way before she took Tony's arm and started to pull him back toward the kitchen. "Come on, have a bite and tell Annie which presents are for which kids. I'll never remember." Tony didn't fight her, but she and Logan did have to answer a whole battalion of questions from him when they got back to the table, which Kurt looked more than entertained to simply watch as he enjoyed his breakfast and watched Logan field most of the questions while K sank in next to him with her coffee.


	6. One Year Check-Up

**Notes: Well we've had so much fluff lately we thought we'd shake it up with something different this time :P**

 **Griezz, we're just gonna keep the "bamf" language to the one word so it's more fun when people understand them, to be honest. And Kate would SO disown them if they did that.**

 **And O, we LOVE domestic X-Men. That's totally our jam :D But… without giving too much away… there will definitely be rescue the significant other stories. For sure. SOON.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: "One Year Check-Up"**

* * *

Even though, technically, the Summers twins had different birthdays, since Chance had been born after midnight on January 1, everyone agreed that it would be more fun to just have a big bash for both of them for their first ever birthday party on New Year's Eve. That way, there would be fireworks, cake, and a whole lot of partying.

Besides, as Annie pointed out, the twins were still too young to understand birthdays, and she didn't want Chance to get jealous of the attention given to Charlie on her birthday or vice versa.

And of course, Kate was simply pleased as punch to share her day with the adorable little twins, and she and Peter were a little force of nature themselves as both of them flitted around getting things set up.

"I should really set up a whole other business the way things are going around here lately," Peter laughed as Kate finished blowing up some balloons. "Peter Parker: Wedding and Baby Photography."

"You love it," Kate pointed out, and Peter just grinned that much wider.

"Oh, hey, that reminds me. Before I forget—" He reached around into his camera bag and pulled out a gorgeous printed wedding album to press into Kate's hands. "Happy birthday," he said with a wide grin. "Took me a little longer than I thought it would to get it ready, so… I couldn't get it done for Christmas. But happy birthday."

Kate positively beamed at him and threw her arms around his shoulders to pull him into a warm hug. "Thanks, Pete," she said as he returned the hug with a little laugh.

"Hey, that wedding was, like, three years in the making. If you think for a second half the mansion wasn't giving me their opinion on how that album had to go since about... yeah, three years ago? You don't know how fast the gossip train moves around here," Peter laughed.

"Oh, I believe it," Kate told him semi-seriously as she helped him put the finishing touches on the setup with a 'Happy Birthday' banner.

It wasn't long after that when Scott and Annie arrived with the twins, who were already in high spirits from all the attention they were getting from just about everyone that they passed in the halls, so by the time their parents had Chance and Charlie seated, they were properly giggling and babbling to each other in their own little language.

Annie disappeared for a second to come back with two cakes, though Kate was surprised when Annie set one of them — all decorated in reds — in front of the twins and kept the second — with purple roses made of icing — in reserve with a twinkle in her eyes. "Don't think I forgot your birthday," she told Kate with a wide grin even as the twins looked over the cake, trying to figure out what to make of it.

Charlie was regarding the icing with a look of deep suspicion, but Chance decided to dive right in, plunging both hands into the cake with a giggle that only kept going when he realized that he wasn't going to get in trouble for making a mess like he usually did.

Charlie finally got into playing with the cake when she saw how much fun her brother was having, and by the time they were finished, both of them were absolutely coated in bits of cake and red icing, and Peter was absolutely cackling with glee over all the shots he'd been able to get of the two troublemakers enjoying their birthday.

"Come on, Mom and Dad — you two gotta get in on the fun," Peter half-ordered Scott and Annie, directing them over to where the cake-covered twins were.

Predictably, as soon as they were in the splatter zone, the twins made sure to get their parents fairly well covered as well, and Peter was just chuckling to himself as Kate whispered, "Evil genius."

"Just one of my many talents," he shot back as Scott got smeared with red icing across his nose when Chance tried to 'help' his dad get into the spirit of the cake destruction.

It took another little while for the twins to get cleaned up after their cake smash, and anybody who walked past the Summers family bedroom for about forty-five minutes after that could hear the very loud shrieking and giggling going on as Annie and Scott wrestled the twins into a good bath and finally emerged half soaking wet themselves — but with clean babies.

After that, it was the X-Men's turn to totally spoil the kids. Everybody had presents — toys, outfits, cardboard books, the works. Deadpool had even mailed in a package of his own presents, which were actually really adorable — he'd found some perfectly-sized and fairly authentic-looking Cyclops uniforms for the twins to wear.

The two little Summerses were clearly having the time of their lives with all the attention, happily babbling at each other and at everyone else, with occasional actual words and phrases thrown in as both of their parents were sure to remind them that they had to say "thank you" to everyone who gave them presents.

It was quite the eventful day for the little ones, and they were well and truly tuckered out by the time dinner — which was made by Kurt and the bamfs and consisted of all of Kate's favorite foods — was over.

Once Scott and Annie took the twins off to bed (with several shouts of "Daddy, no!" as they insisted they weren't tired), it was like a switch had been flipped, and the day became Kate's birthday instead of Chance and Charlie's birthday.

The purple-wrapped presents came out, and Kate had to laugh when she saw the tags on some of them, particularly the "Mrs. Elf" on Logan's present, though the fact that half the X-Men had made a point to write her full married name on the presents hadn't escaped her attention, either. Apparently, they were still pretty excited about the most recent wedding.

They finally got to dig in to Annie's purple flower-frosting cake — chocolate, of course — as everyone settled in around the table and started to move from birthday celebrations toward talk of the new year the closer the clock ticked to midnight.

Logan was watching Kate with no discernible expression until K sat down next to him and fixed a look at him that had him shaking his head quickly before he just grinned and gave her a kiss. "It's about to get real busy around here," Logan muttered quietly to K, who solemnly nodded.

"How are you feeling?" K said to Kate. "Keeping up with the twins _all_ day?"

Kate grinned. "Feeling pretty darn spoiled," she said, a teasing sparkle in her eyes. "I mean ... wedding, then Christmas, then my birthday with the cutest little Summerses? Pretty great month for me. Whatever will I do when people aren't giving me presents every other week?"

"I don't think that's going to be a concern for a while," Logan muttered, though K reached over and pinched the hell out of his inner thigh with a tight smile, getting as close to a yelp out of him as Kate had ever heard.

"That's true. Valentine's," Kate said with a little grin, though she was watching them with raised eyebrows, pretty sure there was something going on between them she just wasn't catching. "But then there's a big ol' gap for a while before we get back to winter and _presents_."

At that, Kurt leaned over with a little smirk on his face. "You seem to think there has to be a _reason_ to spoil you, love," he whispered in her ear, which had her grinning all the wider.

"Well not for _you_ ," she replied. "But you're biased."

"Oh yes, terribly," he agreed with a little low growl as he kissed the nape of her neck — and the other X-Men just had to roll their eyes at the pair of them and their inability to _stop_ being like this all the time.

Someone broke out the champagne and — for those that couldn't drink — the sparkling cider as the minutes counted closer down to the New Year. As Kate was pouring herself a glass, K reached over and put a hand on her arm. "Join me?" she offered, pouring the cider. "I'm not drinking this whole bottle alone."

Kate raised her eyebrows but shrugged and took the offered glass of cider, raising her glass to clink K's as the seconds ticked down until — "Happy New Year!"

* * *

Most of the mansion residents had planned to sleep in after the late-night partying for New Year's Eve, not to mention all the birthday celebrations that had come before that, but that wasn't the case for the resident ferals — or at least, not for Logan.

He woke up early, bleary-eyed and feeling groggy, as he reached for K and came up empty-handed. He frowned and looked around, only to sit up quickly as he realized that she simply wasn't even there.

He called for her quietly and waited a moment as he checked the time only to realize that it was still too early for her to be up. Particularly since she'd been sleeping later than she had been earlier in her pregnancy.

Logan had just stepped out of his room when he was nearly bowled over by Annie, who looked absolutely frantic. She hadn't bothered to change out of her pajamas, and her hair was still a mess, and the second she spotted him, she ran right to him to all but gasp out, "Have you seen Scott? Or Charlie? I can't find them!"

At that, Logan bolted down the hall toward the War Room, where Scott had set up the tracking equipment. "How long since you last saw them?" he asked.

Annie was running to keep up with him, half gasping as she shook her head. "Last night at the party," she admitted. "Scott and I went to bed, and then Chance woke me up crying." She took a deep, gasping breath. "It took me ages to get him to calm down — he's scared, and he keeps asking for his sissy, and I don't know where they _are_!"

As Annie tried to get hold of her own panic, Logan led the way to the War Room, and the second they were inside, he set up the locator beacon, frowning the slightest bit when he got a hit not too far from where they were, relatively speaking. K's tracer was in Maine.

Annie looked over Logan's shoulder with an expression somewhere between relief and confusion. "I thought … last time, the tracer didn't work because he left it behind," she said, her brow scrunched the slightest bit in confusion.

"K swallowed it," Logan said simply, already going to his comm to call for Kurt, Jubilee, Bobby — anybody that was still home and hadn't gone out for the holidays to be with family. This was an all-hands-on-deck situation.

And of course, as soon as they heard what was going on, the entire team was ready to give Sinister what for.

"I'll make this man regret his very existence," Noh promised Logan low as the group of heroes gathered up, but Logan's attention was more on Kate, who was packing three different quivers, mostly of putty and explosive arrows.

When Kate noticed that Logan was looking her way, she tipped her head the slightest bit. "What — should I bring a fourth?" she asked, but he shook his head.

"Sorry, Hawkeye, but somebody's gotta stay here with Annie and Chance," he pointed out. "We leave her alone in this big house, and it's practically an invitation for someone to come after 'em."

Kate frowned hard at that. "This was _my_ plan," she said, almost at a pout. "I came up with the tracers — I want to see this through."

"And it was a good plan. But you're still staying here," Logan said, with a look that she couldn't possibly mistake.

She crossed her arms over her chest but couldn't argue much when she saw how downright _terrified_ Annie looked over the whole thing — and she knew that Logan was right; Annie did need someone there with her. When it came to things with Sinister, Annie was justifiably panicky, and Kate had to sigh and shake her head at Logan. "Fine," she all but spit out as she took a few steps closer to Annie. "But keep your comms on. If something goes wrong, I _will_ come after you guys."

"Right." Logan gave her the slightest of nods before he turned to one of the bamfs — Kate's flirty little friend — and whispered something to him low before the little guy teleported over to hover between Kate and Annie with a look that clearly told the two women that he was going to be looking out for them.

With that settled, the rest of the X-Men loaded up — Rachel, Jubilee, Noh, Kurt, Bobby, and Logan all looking ready to tear Sinister apart as Hank was triple checking his medical supplies in the jet. They were still short a few hands — Storm had disappeared with Forge after Christmas, and Remy was down in Louisiana for New Year's celebrations in New Orleans — but the teammates they did have were _furious_ and ready to _go_.

So, the flight out to Maine was nearly silent. It had been months since they'd been able to actually _face_ Sinister instead of having to clean up after the guy, and it was obvious that everyone in the jet was itching to get their hands on the creep who had been terrorizing their friends unchecked.

At this point, no one was really surprised when the coordinates took them to a large house that looked like it had been around since colonial times and was therefore probably equipped with a nice, big basement, as per usual. Nor were they all that surprised when, the second they were even close to the house, Marauders came out to meet them. But the Marauders themselves seemed surprised to see the X-Men — no doubt used to their kidnapping going smoothly and without incident.

Logan didn't hesitate in the least to dive right in, carving himself a path through any Marauders that were stupid enough to get in between him and K with serious ferocity behind every blow. Bobby was icing the Marauders as fast as he could, and Rachel would simply telekinetically pick them up to throw Bobby's way for icing, making short work of a few of them before the Marauders could even get close enough to fight back. Jubilee was making the Marauders' lives miserable with painful explosions, sparks positively flying from her fingertips. And Kurt and Noh were working to cut their own path to the old house — not as vicious and angry as Logan was but definitely as merciless. Kurt had all three swords and the army of bamfs in play, and Noh had long ago abandoned any conversation as he focused on simply tearing down anyone in his path without even drawing his guns.

Kurt was the one to spot the opening and, in a second, teleport to Logan to grab his best friend and teleport him further into the house, hardly pausing at all as the two old friends had a familiar rhythm — even as furious as they were.

The Marauders really didn't stand much of a chance with Logan and Kurt working in tandem — teleporting from one spot to the next, setting them up to stumble into Jubilee or Bobby or Noh while pulling off an impressive slice and dice between them as well.

They had just cut through a pair of overly large Marauders when a couple of the bamfs came skittering down the hallway to jabber at the two of them. Kurt nodded once and then looked to Logan. "Well, they've found the basement," he said in an almost resigned tone before he grabbed hold of Logan.

"Ready and waiting, Elf," Logan half growled.

But Kurt didn't need to be prompted before he simply teleported the two of them to where the bamfs had been, reappearing at the bottom of an impressive set of stairs.

They knew they'd found their friends without even turning the corner because they could hear Charlie very loudly arguing with Sinister the way only a baby could — by repeating "No, no, no, no, no" over and over again at whatever he was up to, with the occasional "go 'way" thrown in as well, and before Kurt could even request it, the bamfs appeared en masse — ready to fight and growling fiercely — along with the rest of the X-Men.

"Get Charlie out of here first," Kurt directed the bamfs as a low whisper. "Rachel, can you take her?" Rachel nodded quietly as one of the bamfs perched carefully on her shoulder.

They could hear Sinister angrily muttering to himself, clearly frustrated and — from the sound of things — not yet finished with whatever he was up to. Kurt nodded to the bamf with Rachel for just a second before the group of them rounded the corner, ready to spring and to see just what Sinister had been up to this whole time.

They heard the clang of metal as Sinister drew something out of K and dropped it into a waiting tray — and when he stepped back the slightest bit, the group of X-Men could see that he'd simply cut her open to retrieve the tracker she had swallowed.

K was awake but tied down, while on another similar table, Scott was also tied down, his eyes wrapped in white gauze and a collar around his neck, clearly drugged as he mumbled a bit and his fingers twitched every once in a while. Clearly, Sinister had taken notice of the glasses-free look and had decided now was the perfect time to look into it.

Charlie was nearby in a crude sort of old-fashioned crib and was giving Sinister her best glare. She couldn't see what he was doing clearly, but the little girl obviously knew something was up and was determined to give him what for, still shouting "no" and "go 'way" right up until she spotted the rescue party and looked right at Logan. "Up!" she shouted Logan's way.

But Logan more or less handed the job over as he darted toward Sinister with a barely restrained rage. Rachel was at Charlie's side in a blink and a bamf as she scooped up the little girl and gently kissed the top of her head. "I got you," she promised before she and Charlie were teleported away by the little bamf.

Bobby and a couple bamfs had gone to help Scott as he iced up the restraints holding Scott in place to get them to shatter so they could get him teleported back to the blackbird — while Noh and Jubilee were headed for K. Kurt, then, turned his attention to helping Logan, who was working up to a full rage as he snarled at Sinister. And Sinister, for his part, looked downright annoyed — at being interrupted or at the tracer or at having to fight the X-Men, it was anyone's guess.

Kurt teleported himself and Logan directly between Sinister and K to occupy his attention while Noh simply started to tear off the restraints holding her down, though Sinister hit Kurt with a hard backhand before he moved to simply blast Logan. But Logan was quick enough to duck the blast and return with claws through the creep's side before with a noise like a hiss, the tall, pale man blasted Logan halfway across the room with both hands.

But it had been enough time for Noh to quickly get the restraints off of K, though he was clearly concerned, his gaze on the long cut Sinister had made that still wasn't healed. "She's wearing no collar — what is taking so long?" he half-hissed out to Jubilee, who looked just as surprised as he did.

"Maybe he switched her off?" Jubilee suggested.

Noh glanced Sinister's way with a hard glare for a second before he set his jaw. "If that is the case, I see the solution before me," he said before he looked to Jubilee and a few of the remaining bamfs. "Can you take her to Henry? I believe I would like to introduce that man to the end of my own claws — Logan has the right idea here."

It only took a second for Jubilee to nod and for the little bamfs to teleport out with the two women, and Noh turned his attention to Sinister — who had just turned off Kurt's teleporting, if the frustrated shout was anything to go by just before Kurt made a rush with all three swords.

Noh followed Kurt's lead and also rushed toward the tall creep, much faster than Kurt and with a little more power behind each step — so that he made quite the spectacular _crack_ when he ran into the force field that Sinister erected at the last second before he could get his hands on him.

As Noh positively crumpled at the hard hit, Kurt pulled up short before he could do the same — and Logan launched himself past Kurt, claws extended to try to punch through the field. Even if only the tips of his claws could reach, he was still able to leave a mark, and with the height from his leap, that meant Sinister had a long set of slash marks across his face and neck.

"If you impatient cretins can't abide even the most unobtrusive of studies, I'll simply have to change my methods," he sneered at them, his eyes flashing with fury.

Logan was growling low before he rushed forward again, trying to break through the force field as Kurt tried to pierce it from the other side. Sinister dodged out of the way of Logan's claws where they were able to push through and seemed almost bored by the fight as he reached out to psychically freeze Logan in place before he turned his attention to Kurt to project pain into his mind that sent the blue, furry X-Man to his knees.

"Perhaps I was too generous in sending back my subjects," Sinister mused, now with the upper hand and in a gloating mood, apparently — just before an explosion rocked the lab.

While Sinister had been gloating, Noh had managed to pick himself back up, at least enough that he found the nearest lab equipment and embedded one nail inside it, blowing it to smithereens. "I would say we have a difference of opinion on the definition of the words 'generous' and 'unobtrusive,' but as I learned English by memorizing the dictionary, I believe it's more than you are simply _wrong_ ," Noh said, panting slightly as he pulled himself up to glare at Sinister. "Jubilee, my darling," he added into his comm. "Whenever you are ready, I think it is time for you to do what you do best."

At that, a series of explosions echoed out around them as Sinister's expression twisted into pure anger when he realized that Jubilee was trashing his lab and his research. He glared at Noh and blasted the Kree fighter for his insolence before he teleported out to try to find Jubilee — and to salvage what he could of his research.

As soon as Sinister was gone, so was his hold on Logan and Kurt, and while Kurt rushed to help the now badly injured Noh, Logan gave him an approving sort of nod. "Can't stop him, so stop the research, right?"

Noh nodded. "It seems Jubilee and Rachel together are formidable — it's all but impossible to detect their thoughts when they are working in tandem. Or so I'm told." He took a deep, rattling breath. "Before we leave, I for one would like to retrieve the files on you and the rest of our friends."

"And we should wreck the rest of this… equipment," Kurt said with obvious distaste as he looked around at the lab, though Logan had already popped his claws.

"On it," he said simply before he started to trash the place, as Jubilee's explosions echoed around them.

While Logan set to work, Kurt, still half supporting Noh, found the nearest computer terminal, and within minutes, the medical files on all the X-Men Sinister had seen fit to kidnap were in a holographic download in one of Noh's pocket dimension devices. As soon as they had that, Kurt teleported Noh back to the blackbird, only to return a few moments later to grab hold of Logan and teleport him upstairs to help Jubilee.

It was a good thing they arrived when they did, too, because when the two of them had teleported up to where Jubilee was, with Rachel apparently there to help boost her telepathic defenses, they were just in time to see Rachel go flying from a hard hit and crumple against the wall and to see Sinister seize Jubilee by the arm, his glowing eyes somehow more incandescent when he was clearly furious with her for wrecking his equipment.

"Paws off!" Jubilee shouted as she stomped on his foot, but that just seemed to get him to tighten his grip more as he all but whispered out his threats on what exactly he was going to do to slowly take her apart to study her secondary mutation.

Kurt couldn't hear what Sinister was saying, but whatever it was, it had Logan growling low and uncontrollably, so he knew he had to act fast, since they'd lost the element of surprise with Logan growling like that. He teleported himself and Logan right over to where Sinister was, and Logan didn't hesitate to simply cut off the hand that Sinister had closed around Jubilee's arm.

Sinister let out a shout as he moved to backhand Logan, though Logan ducked the swing and planted his claws in Sinister's side, twisting hard as Kurt teleported Jubilee out of reach and over to where Rachel was. Even as he crouched down beside Rachel to gently check and make sure she was alright, he could feel the heat against the wall that meant the room just next door was on fire, and he knew he had to get them out of there quickly.

But as he moved to teleport the two girls out of there, he found, to his frustration, that he simply ... couldn't.

Sinister had apparently recovered enough from the hard hits Logan had landed against him and had frozen Wolverine to the spot, though that wasn't enough to satisfy his fury, clearly. He also blasted Logan into the nearest wall, close to the other X-Men, where the quickly-forming bruise and _crack_ told Kurt that Sinister had also turned off his friend's healing abilities.

The tall, pale man spun to face Kurt and the girls with fury in his eyes that was burning almost as bright as the fire around them — but before Sinister could make another move, it was Jubilee who lost her temper first, sparks flying from her fingertips for a moment before she hit Sinister with a blast that clearly no one had expected, knocking him back into a wall hard enough to leave a dent and distracting his attention just long enough for Kurt to recover his abilities and 'port them to safety.

As soon as they arrived on the blackbird, Kurt went right to the cockpit. Seeing just how many of their number needed medical attention, he knew they needed speed at the moment. K still hadn't healed from the incisions Sinister had made, and Logan went right to her, worry etched in every line on his face as she was gasping in long, deep breaths.

Bobby had Charlie, who was clearly upset now that there wasn't a big, tall creep to direct all her fury toward, and she was wriggling in his arms trying to see her dad, who was finally starting to come out of whatever it was that Sinister had drugged him with, thanks to the medicines Hank had in the IV bag attached to Scott's arm.

"Daddy okay?" she kept asking Bobby insistently, and Bobby just kept quietly shushing her and assuring her that Scott would be fine.

Jubilee had gone right to Noh, who was purple and blue from running smack into Sinister's force field and couldn't quite stand or sit up right because of the blast Sinister had hit him with, and she fussed over him even as Hank looked over Rachel's head and frowned at how hard she'd hit the wall — she would need stitches.

When they got to the mansion, they were greeted by two very relieved women and one pretty fussy little boy. The second Chance saw his sister, he shouted "sissy!" at the top of his lungs and just kept insisting, "want Tarly," until Annie finally let him down and he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him to Bobby. And as soon as Bobby set Charlie down next to him, the little boy wrapped her up in a hug and refused to let go of her as the two babies just sat down in the middle of the hangar floor in a deep snuggle.

Of course, Annie went into instant distress when she saw Scott, whose eyes were still wrapped. Hank hadn't wanted to remove the bandages — because whatever Sinister had been doing, the marks were still recent, and he didn't want to risk further injury — so until that point, he'd had to rely on Hank while he couldn't see.

"I've got you," Annie said in a very soft, tender voice as she wrapped her arm around Scott's middle and simply headed right for the medical wing — and Tyler, who had driven up from visiting his mom to come help once he heard what was happening. And it was a good thing, too, because with this many injuries, Tyler and Hank both were going to be pretty busy. Tyler couldn't heal them all in one sitting, not this many, anyway.

Jubes and Rachel each had an arm underneath Noh to get him to the med wing as well — and with the blackbird pretty much cleared after that, Kate ducked her head inside to see what was taking the ferals so long… and had to gasp quietly when she saw the K still hadn't fully healed.

"What's wrong?" she asked, watching as Hank and Logan checked to make sure she was secure before Kurt and the bamfs simply teleported all of them — Kate included — right to the medical wing so they didn't have to move K.

As Hank got to working, Kurt wrapped his tail around Kate's arm to pull her closer and give her a warm hug, pressing a kiss to her temple, though his gaze was still on the injured K. "We need to get her some food," he explained, gesturing to K with a worried expression. "Her body is prioritizing the baby right now, and with that and the constant healing from the adamantium poisoning, there isn't much left to devote to healing."

Kate nodded her understanding. "Plenty of food in the kitchen," she said, and Kurt had already teleported them before she was done with her sentence. When they arrived, she gestured to several loaves of banana bread, along with other Annie creations. "While you were gone, there was stress baking," she explained, even as the bamfs were simply gathering up as much food as they could to take down to K — both Annie's confections and anything in the fridge or pantry.

"This will do nicely — thank you," Kurt said as he also grabbed some leftovers from the birthday party dinner, and Kate grabbed what was left of her cake to bring along.

When they teleported back with their armloads of food, Logan gave them a quick, grateful look before he just started setting food in front of K, watching her with an intense expression as she ate until, finally, thankfully, she started to heal again, and the long, jagged incision wounds finally closed up.

"So, did you get that creep?" Tyler asked, looking up from where he had just finished healing Scott's eyes.

Kurt and Logan shared a look before they let out a sigh almost in tandem. "No — but we did trash his labs," Kurt told him. "It will take him a while to recover from that."

"Not to mention the loss of his medical files," Noh said from across the room, sounding incredibly pleased with himself. "I was sure to steal back not only the files from our records — but _all_ of his files." He let out the slightest of sighs as he looked Logan's way. "He had a file on your son, I noticed."

Logan raised his eyebrows at that but then nodded slowly and quietly. "That'd explain why we haven't been able to find his scent trail when he's been making his unexpected little visits."

Noh nodded and leaned back slightly. "I'm hoping that with his research in hand, I can find a way to track his movements — or at least stop him from entering the mansion again. I doubt he will leave us alone simply because we were able to stop him this time."

"I'd say 'stop him' is overselling it," Scott said with an edge of bitterness to his voice. He had just finished unwrapping the gauze around his eyes and looked past Annie to where Chance was still giving Charlie little kisses and pats on the head now that the twins had been reunited. "We just set him back. He'll be back."

"He'll need the time to reset his equipment and his research," Noh said, his words ringing with disgust. "It might be enough for us to prepare for his inevitable next appearance." He was glaring hard as he looked over to where K was about halfway through a loaf of Annie's banana bread. "Perhaps it's time we went on the offensive," he said almost to himself, "rather than trying to clean up after this man when such damage is done in every instance."

"He won't be at that house anymore," Scott said, his jaw set as he was clearly thinking it over. "But you're right — we should keep our eyes peeled. If we can get to him before he gets to us… He glanced Charlie's way again, and then K's. "We'll find a way to stop him," he said, though he sounded a bit like he was trying to convince himself.

But Charlie simply couldn't stop herself when she heard the tone of her dad's voice, and she took Chance by the hand to go over to where Scott was to simply hold her free hand up. "Up, Daddy," she said, her brown eyes wide as she watched him.

Scott paused when he looked down at the two of them before he bent down and scooped up the twins, and Charlie immediately snuggled into him — with Chance following his sister's lead as soon as he realized that he was going to get a hug out of it.

"Wuv Daddy," Charlie said with a smile, and Chance echoed the sentiment a moment later — so that Scott really couldn't focus on the damage Sinister had done when both of his kids were clearly doing their utmost to make sure he knew he was loved.


	7. Service and Self-Defense

**Chapter 7: "Service and Self-Defense"**

It had been a few days since the team had gotten K, Scott, and Charlie back from Sinister, and Annie had been watching her little family very closely during those few days. She saw the way Scott kept glancing at Charlie with this open, almost injured look in his eyes — and she knew it was because he thought he'd doomed his own daughter because of Sinister's obsession with his family.

She also saw the way Chance was around his sister, the way he kept hugging her and kissing her all the time, because she had been upset for a good long while after her kidnapping — likely because this time, Sinister hadn't wiped their memories of the whole ordeal.

And little Chance was hardly apart from his father when he wasn't snuggling his sister, giving Scott sloppy, wet kisses and always, _always_ asking for his father when he saw that Scott was in the room. He was a little sweetheart already, even young as he was.

Annie had been doing what she could for her family. She hardly let Charlie out of her sight for the first couple of days after their rescue, and as for Scott ... well, she hardly let him out of her sight, either.

But when it had been about a week, Annie was done picking up the pieces. She wanted to feel like she was _doing_ something.

She had been taking self-defense lessons pretty much since she moved into the mansion, and of course, she had stepped up her lessons after she first met that horrible Mr. Sinister, but considering recent events… she wanted a little more.

With the twins as active and troublemaking as they were, though, it was hard to find a solid schedule for lessons or even for practicing. Before, she had been able to practice with Ororo or Kate on a more regular schedule, but now... she had taken to just looking for anyone who had an open hour when the twins were asleep, or when Scott was playing with them, or anytime she had the time to spare.

Her favorite person to spar with was Kate, not only because she considered the young woman to be a good friend but also because Kate's entire existence as a superhero depended on her ability to take down people who were bigger and more powerful than her when she, like Annie, had no powers to speak of. They were about the same size and build, too, so Kate had some good tips for how to use her size to the best advantage.

Some of the others were fun too, of course. Peter was a darling, and he had some good tips on how to outsmart an opponent. Bobby was always willing to spar with her if he had the time, and Remy was even trying to show her how to use a staff — in case it ever came in handy. Of course, Storm was an excellent teacher as well, and Annie truly enjoyed those sparring sessions even more than Kate's, because while Kate knew exactly what she needed to learn, Ororo was a good friend closer to her own age. And Henry was excellent for teaching her exactly _where_ to place her blows so that she could do the most damage, if she could pull him away from his lab.

Jubilee was of course absolutely willing to help out and share a little of what she'd learned training with Logan, and Noh had been very quietly showing her how to shoot his energy weapons. "Technically, these are not Terran guns, so they do not flout any rules," he would always say when they headed out to the range.

Even Scott was willing to help her out, though she preferred to spar with other people, ones that she wasn't married to, because she always had the sneaking suspicion that Scott was going too easy on her.

She hadn't asked Logan or K to help her, though, because she'd seen enough of them in action in the field to know that they were far more terrifying than she knew how to be, and she simply didn't think that she was ready for the kind of training that they might offer her. Not that she'd ruled it out — especially not when she wanted to tear apart Sinister for messing with her family — she just wasn't there yet.

It was Saturday afternoon after the first week of classes after the winter break, and it looked like everyone was inside staying out of the cold weather. She wasn't surprised to see Tammy and Tyler occupying what was quickly becoming their usual couch, drinking hot chocolate and looking over college applications already. Nor was she surprised to see Hisako quietly talking with Logan about her plans for after graduation — mostly consisting of becoming a full-time X-Man. Annie knew that Hisako had been secretly hoping for a world tour with Logan last summer, but with K being pregnant, that plan had flown out the window.

She saw Kate's friend Cassie chatting quietly with Scott, likely setting up her new semester schedule with him so that she could still come by the mansion on occasion for training. And close by them, Rico was playing cards with some of the newer students — he always made it a point to do that so they could get used to his scorpion-like appearance.

Finally, she popped her head into Peter's office, and the little Spiderman very quickly turned his computer screen so she couldn't see what he was up to. "Hey, wait, you can't see the birthday cake pictures until I'm done with them! I'm not ready for you yet!" he said, leaning halfway over the desk to block the screen with his body.

She had to laugh at his antics. "That's not why I stopped by," she told him.

Peter quickly set his computer to his screensaver and let out a relieved breath before he said, "Alright then. What's up?"

She grinned. "I was wondering if I could borrow you for a little sparring," she admitted.

He matched her grin and simply vaulted over the desk before he puffed out his chest and offered her his arm. "I've always got time to help a student in need!" he declared with a little laugh that she couldn't help echoing as the two of them headed down to the Danger Room.

The two of them hadn't gotten very far into the beginnings of their easy sparring session when Annie noticed that someone had come by the booth, though she didn't pay it too much attention. Members of the team were always coming in and out to see each other practice, so it wasn't surprising that someone might stop by for this — or even to start setting up their own programs for later.

She _was_ surprised, however, when the visitor turned out to be K, considering that she'd been more subdued and had stayed out of sight as much as possible since the last brush with Sinister. It wasn't long, though, before K came down from the booth to join them, shaking her head at Peter with a little smirk.

"Not a bad start," K said. "But you're asking her to perform maneuvers that are much easier to do when you have super strength — which... unless it's new to her, that's not a thing here." She stepped forward and then shooed Peter back as she stepped up to Annie with a little smirk. "Spar with _me_ ," K said.

Annie looked downright surprised, eyes wide as she looked K over. "I'm really not at your level," she tried to explain. "I've taken some self-defense, but I'm not a _fighter_. I don't know that I could keep up," she added, slightly sheepishly.

"Likely not, but how else are you going to get better?" K asked. "Besides. It's not like I'm exactly up to full speed myself." She tipped her head to the side a bit and raised an eyebrow as she gestured to her belly. "Not intimidating in the least to anyone, either."

Annie had to laugh at that and nod her agreement. "Well, then, what would you suggest?"

"Well," K said as she considered it. "I don't think any of these goons are going to sit back and let me _play._ Even this one won't stand by." Peter nodded his head in agreement as K continued. "But I can guide you through the process. Maybe …" She stepped up to Peter and placed his hands on her arm and around her steadily growing waist before she shot him a grin and made a quick move to toss him over her head. "I can demo the light stuff with a willing body," K said with a smile.

"Oh I see. Just a test dummy to you," Peter said, though he was grinning and his tone was teasing as he took the hand Annie offered him to stand back up. He rolled his shoulder and fixed her with a solid grin.

Annie laughed at both of them. "Well, if that's the case, why don't we start with something a little lighter than an over-the-shoulder toss?" she offered. "Just to try out your teaching methods."

K smirked Annie's way and pulled on Peter's arm to get him closer to her. "C'mere little spider," she said — and very suddenly, he looked a little worried about what she might have planned for lessons.

* * *

"Are you hiding from Mrs. Howlett too?"

Kurt looked up with a bit of a sheepish grin when he saw that the living room he'd thought was empty was, in fact, occupied — though he could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, since Tyler had been sitting quiet and unmoving in the corner for a while now. When he saw the young man, he let out the smallest of laughs and shook his head. "Just looking for a moment's quiet by the fire," he said, though the grin widened as he added, "and besides, K has already snagged her sparring partner for teaching Annie. Poor Remy." He put a hand on his heart, but his eyes were sparkling with laughter, and there was little _real_ sympathy in his tone — more amusement than anything else.

Tyler had to laugh at that too, though of course, Kurt couldn't help but notice that it didn't quite reach his eyes, which were shining with an emotion Kurt couldn't quite place yet.

With a frown, Kurt perched on the arm of the couch nearest Tyler and tilted his head to one side. "Are you alright, Tyler?"

For a second, the young man looked like he might try to pretend that, yes, he was alright. He managed to hold a smile for all of a few seconds before the expression completely collapsed on his face. He let out all his breath and, with a slightly shaking hand, produced a letter from his pocket.

"What's this?" Kurt asked as he looked over the sender's address. The letter had come from the church headquarters in Salt Lake City, and he knew that Tyler had sent in his papers to serve a mission, so it wasn't entirely unexpected… though Tyler's reaction was.

Tyler took in a breath that brought his shoulders up to his ears and then quickly let it all out. "It's… an honorable release," he explained in a subdued voice.

Kurt frowned as he read over the letter. It was kindly worded, praising Tyler for his "desire to serve the Lord," but… the gist of it was that Tyler simply would not be able to serve, not when he could be a danger to anyone assigned to serve with him. The letter ended warmly, though, with the church leaders writing, "The Lord has called you to serve His children in a different capacity, and the work you are already doing with His mutant children pleases Him."

It was kind, and it was encouraging, but still Kurt could see the disappointment on Tyler's face. "I was worried this might be a problem," Tyler admitted as he took the letter back and stared at it for a long moment. "I mean, the family resemblance… it's just getting stronger the older I get. And seeing as Sabretooth is wanted in just about every country in the world… and there are kill orders on him... " He looked up with an attempt at a rueful smile. "I mean, Scott and Kate found me getting chased out of a California town because they thought I was him. I wouldn't exactly be doing my companions any favors bringing _that_ kind of heat."

Kurt watched the young man for a moment as Tyler tried to explain away his disappointment, but it was clear that he was honestly down about the whole thing. The two-year mission was considered not only a service called of God for boys his age in his church but also something of a rite of passage. And now he'd be missing out.

With a heavy sigh, Kurt reached over to lay a hand on Tyler's arm and give him what he hoped was an encouraging smile. "Unfortunately, for right now, this is the cross we genetically gifted bear," he said, the rueful expression lifting the corner of his mouth to show his pointed teeth. "Perhaps in the future, it will be easier."

Tyler nodded glumly. "Yeah, maybe."

Kurt faltered for a moment and then took a deeper breath. "I've told you before I was once a fully ordained priest, _ja_?" he said cautiously. "In the holy order of the Catholic Church?"

Tyler looked up at him and tipped his head the slightest bit. "Yeah, I've heard some of the stories."

Kurt nodded. "It was not quite what I expected — in the end," he admitted before he settled in against the couch and looked Tyler over. "I enjoyed it more than nearly anything else I have done, but sadly, this world… it is not often kind to those of our gifts."

Tyler chewed on his bottom lip for a second and fell silent as Kurt quietly told him about what had happened during his time with the Church, right down to how his own appearance as a 'blue devil' was used against him.

Kurt was nearly through with his story — which seemed to at least be cheering Tyler up in that he knew he wasn't alone with this kind of problem — when K came into the living room. She didn't pay much attention to the two boys at first, simply dropping onto the nearest couch with a little grin after she had clearly been giving Remy a hard time with Annie — but when she noticed the subdued and quiet whispers in the corner of the room, she picked her head up to look at them better and to see the expression on Tyler's face.

"Ty? You okay?" K asked, already on her feet again and headed his way.

Tyler shared a look with Kurt for a moment before he let out a long breath. "Just… disappointed. I'll be fine," he tried to assure her.

But K slipped onto the couch next to him and snuggled in, making sure to give him a big bear hug in the process. "You need me to stab someone? I'm kind of in the mood."

"This isn't exactly a stabbing problem," Tyler told her, though he couldn't quite hide the little sideways smile at her obvious concern.

"Says you. There's always a way to nail 'em," she said as she kept up the snuggling until Remy had to speak up.

"Why does he get the warm an' fuzzy and I get t'rown 'cross de room?" Remy asked with his arms crossed.

K half-glared at him and squeezed Tyler again. "Kitten Whiskers over Swamp Rat any day," she replied with a smirk, easily waving Remy off. "Tell me what happened, Whiskers."

Tyler snorted out the slightest of laughs at her antics and then handed her the letter he'd shown Kurt. "I was really hoping to go," he admitted to her as he watched her read it.

She read it slowly at least twice, soaking up whatever way to twist it Tyler's way she could find as she took his arm and thought it through with a light frown. Finally, she took a deep breath before she spoke up: "How is this bad?"

Tyler stared at her for a second as he tried to explain. "This… this is something every kid in my church counts down to. It's a huge deal when you get to go."

"I get that," she said with a nod and gestured to the letter. "But the way this is worded ... it sounds like a fast-track to joining the team. _If you want it_."

"Well, yeah, of course I want to join the team. I just…" Tyler looked over her shoulder at the letter for a second, mouth pressed together, and K handed it back to him gently.

"Re-read it without your expectations," K advised slowly. "You're interpreting it like they're telling you 'no.' Just ... read the damn thing right."

Kurt shot K a little smile as the two adults watched Tyler re-reading the letter… and waited until they saw the understanding light up the corner of his mouth. Tyler looked back up at K and broke into an actual smile. "Sorta like... Permission to join the team, huh?" he managed at last.

"That's what I saw," K said.

"From ge interg'lactic lawyer," Remy said with a smirk. "She find de loopholes anywhere."

"You should be proud," Kurt said, his grin widening. "Not everyone gets an official endorsement from their church to join the team. In fact, I think you may just be the first."

"I think you did this purposely to get snuggles, Kitten Whiskers," K said as she looked down her nose at him, her chin tipped up. "Sneaky. Very sneaky."

"Well," Tyler said with the beginnings of a little smirk. "I _have_ been taking more sneaking and self-defense classes. You know — so I can join the team."

"Give me a few more months, and I'll show you sneaky," K told him.

"You mean you're not already showing people how to throw others across the room?" Kurt teased, gesturing to Remy with one eyebrow raised.

"Not with as much gusto as I'd like," K grinned at him. "Have to manage without my core muscles entirely. Flexibility's shot for now too."

"Heaven help us when she get it back," Remy said, laughing slightly.

Tyler grinned at the X-Men in the room and tucked the letter back into his pocket. "Well," he said slowly, "I guess this means I should change the dates on those college applications. No two-year deferment… means I join the team sooner though." His grin widened at that last bit as he gave K a bit of a squeeze back.

"Yes, go — get on that," she replied. "You don't want to miss your shot. And show that to Scott too. He'll celebrate with you."

Tyler grinned, well aware of what she was doing, and gathered up his things to go do exactly that — and get Scott to maybe have a little fun in the process.


	8. Breaking News

**Notes: Yeah, we take Kurt's decision to join the priesthood seriously. Something like that shouldn't be treated callously or like a plot point. It's a big part of who he is, and we're going to treat his faith and his past with respect. #TeamProtectKurt**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: "Breaking News"**

* * *

The mansion was quiet. Scott and Storm had taken most of the students to the movies after they'd won a bet with the two of them and almost all of them had aced their writing assignment in Storms' class, which meant that the usual low roar of student voices in the halls had quieted down significantly.

There weren't many people even _in_ the mansion, and not just because the students were out. K and Logan had headed out for the night to do God only knows what, and Tyler and Tammy had left with Hank to see Daisy in town — a fact that hadn't escaped the notices of the rest of the team, who all agreed that the little family was shaping up _beautifully_. In fact, Remy wasn't even around, but no one knew where he'd gone, and Logan had guessed that he was hiding from K — who had decided he was the _perfect_ crash test dummy for her work with Annie, in spite of (or possibly because of) his best protestations.

Annie had just waved at Kate on her way out the door, the little ones in tow for a movie night of their own at her sister's place — which left Kate and Kurt almost entirely alone in the mansion. Not that they were complaining, of course. It was always nice to get a little peace and quiet to themselves, especially when most everyone was cooped up inside during a late January cold snap.

The two of them were positively curled up together by the fireplace, enjoying the silence. Both of them had their noses in books — though occasionally, one or the other would reach over to mess up their place in the book, turning pages or closing it entirely just to mess with each other.

Kate broke into a giggle when she managed to avoid Kurt's grab for her book but wasn't able to keep it away from his tail — and he was holding it ransom over their heads for kisses. She couldn't stop laughing at him, and she clearly wasn't complaining about the kisses in the least... when the fire suddenly blew out.

Both of them paused in their teasing to look over at it, wide-eyed, as the smoke from the fire pooled into a circle on the floor that grew steadily wider. Instantly, they jumped to their feet, recognizing the vortex-like smoky spell as it widened to admit Azazel, who simply stepped out of it with a wide grin on seeing the two of them poised for a fight.

"What are you — how did you get in here?" Kurt demanded, nearly snarling and standing slightly in front of Kate without even thinking about it.

"Really, boy, is that any way to greet a new grandfather?" Azazel asked, the grin simply stretching that much wider when he saw that Kurt had his teeth bared, his tail ramrod straight behind him. The meaning and weight behind what he'd just said was completely lost on the two X-Men, both of whom were watching him and simply waiting for him to make a move they didn't like.

Kate had reached for her phone to dial '7' on her speed dial for K as she glared at Azazel and then simply threw one of the books they'd been reading at him with enough force that it actually knocked him back several steps when she hit him in the center of the forehead. As she reached for the other book to do the same, she was practically spitting as she said, "If you don't go back to that island in the next five seconds, I am gonna find new uses for that tail after I cut it off."

Kurt had rushed forward to try and take advantage of his father's distraction, but the tall demon drew a pair of swords and leveled them at Kurt, drawing him to a stop before he could meet the business end — his own swords still out of reach without teleporting.

But although Azazel had the tip of one sword practically at the center of Kurt's chest, he didn't make much of a move except to tut the slightest bit and shake his head. "Come now. This isn't the time for fighting. It's a cause for celebration," he said, a wicked gleam in his already glowing eyes before he turned to Kate. "Haven't you told him yet, dear girl?"

Kate stared at Azazel openly for a moment; she could almost hear the click of a penny dropping in time with her heart falling into her stomach, the sound somehow louder in her head than the slightly muffled Swedish swearing in her pocket. "I…"

But Azazel looked all the more delighted at that. "Surely you _must_ know by now," he said as Kurt looked her way and Kate could see the dawning understanding cross his face too. But when neither of them answered, Azazel let out a laugh that seemed to chill the already darkened room. "Then I'm the first to offer congratulations. How fitting," he said with a self-satisfied smirk before he shouldered past the still-stunned Kurt toward Kate. She was totally ready to kick him or hit him or _something,_ but he simply reached into her pocket and almost lazily turned off her phone. "Though I'm not the first to _know_ ," he said, almost sounding disappointed.

Neither Kate nor Kurt seemed to be able to think of anything to say in response, simply floored by the revelation — and still wary of the demon in their living room — so Azazel just chuckled to himself as he headed for the door.

"I'll be in touch," he said, still wearing the same self-satisfied look as he almost lazily waved a sword in one hand. "I was starting to wonder if you two were ever going to get around to this," he added, the grin widening. "The spell was permanent, but still. I was getting impatient waiting for the first beat of the child's heart..." He sounded positively delighted as he gave them both one more little chuckle. "But no matter — now, I am here."

Both Kate and Kurt were still obviously in shock as Azazel swept off, though Kurt did recover enough to try to rush after his father, more out of an instinct to act than anything else. But by that time, the demon had simply vanished.

Kurt swore softly under his breath in German before he returned to the living room to find that Kate was still standing stock still, her eyes wide, one hand on her own stomach, the other hand on the back of the couch, clearly keeping herself steady.

"Kate?" he prompted when she didn't seem to respond to his coming back into the room. " _Vögelchen_ , are you alright?"

She looked up at him for just a second before, slowly, she shook her head, sinking down onto the couch as Kurt slid in beside her — completely at a loss for words as to what he could say to help.

The ferals showed up a short while later, though they didn't come straight to Kate and Kurt. Instead, both of them headed off to try and track where Azazel had disappeared to, knowing that he couldn't teleport, so he had to have gone out in some other manner.

But when the trail died just beyond the gates, both of them made their way into the house to find their friends still inside. They were both seated on the couch in front of the fireplace, though there was no fire going, and Kurt had hold of one of Kate's hands; she still seemed to be… processing.

"Are you two alright?" K asked as the pair of ferals approached somewhat cautiously.

"Perhaps 'alright' is a strong word," Kurt admitted, his gaze never leaving Kate's pale face. "We are unharmed would be a better description."

K and Logan shared a look as they split up — Logan heading closer to Kurt, and K toward Kate. "Do you need some air?" K asked her as she squatted down almost in front of her.

Kate looked over at her as if she'd only just noticed K was there. "Probably," she croaked out.

K nodded, took her hands, and pulled her up to her feet. "We'll see you boys in a while," K said as she threaded her arm through Kate's, and the two of them headed toward the back door, leaving Logan to try and deal with Kurt.

For a long moment, Kurt stared after the door where the girls had disappeared before he turned to his friend. "How much were you able to hear of what happened?" he asked at last.

"Heard his version of congratulations before the line went dead and K … started using words I've never heard. Which is saying something," Logan replied.

"I let him escape," Kurt said bitterly, shaking his head at himself. "I should have been faster."

"I doubt your problem was speed," Logan said. "How did he even get here?"

"The last time he was here, he must have placed a spell on Kate or myself — or both of us," Kurt said, still glaring at the situation in general, the look of frustration much more pronounced now that Kate was gone. He took a deep breath before he looked up to meet Logan's gaze. "Apparently, it set in when ... well... when there was a heartbeat."

Logan didn't look entirely surprised as he nodded his head. "And that's how you figured it out?"

"I wouldn't say we figured it out as much as we were simply told," Kurt said, his shoulders slumped the slightest bit.

"Sorry that's how it went down," Logan said, resting his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Now pick yourself up and spoil that woman."

Kurt had to smile a bit at the directive despite himself. "She deserves to be spoiled at that," he had to agree before he let out a sigh, obviously still frustrated by _how_ it had all happened.

"Don't let him ruin this for you," Logan advised. "You're a dad now, Elf." He smirked at Kurt. "At least you made it past the wedding first."

A disbelieving sort of smile was sneaking across Kurt's face as he looked over at Logan. "Yes," he said at last. "That much is true — unlike some people I know," he added, a bit of his usual teasing tone returning.

Logan shrugged. "What can I say? I'm impatient."

Kurt laughed for a moment and then reached out to grasp Logan by the shoulder. "Say you will be there when the little one is born — and for all the moments before and after. With my father out there… I'm sure I will need your help to keep them both safe."

"You know I will," Logan replied. He leaned back a bit, still watching his shellshocked friend. "Probably going to need you around for mine too. Especially with Sinister still creeping around and Weapon X still looking. Got a bad feeling about that one."

"Just say the word, and I'll be there," Kurt agreed, resting a hand on his friend's arm as the grin finally started to more permanently take over his face now that he had really let the revelation sink in. " _Mein gott_ , Logan… I can't believe it."

With that, Logan gave him a little grin and pulled him into a real hug. "Congratulations, Elf."

* * *

Meanwhile, K had taken Kate outside to get some air, and the two of them ended up wandering into Storm's garden at some point, taking a seat on the bench swing as Kate leaned her head against K's shoulder. She still hadn't said a word, and she seemed to be studying her naval intently.

K simply watched the younger woman carefully for a long while until Kate finally picked her head back up and looked at K. "This can't… K, if anyone but Azazel told me…" She was still struggling to find the words to put to her situation, but at least she was starting to come out of the shock.

"I'm sorry you found out that way. It's gotta be less of a shock when someone else doesn't inform you," K said. "I wouldn't know though either."

Kate snorted out a breath of a laugh before she looked up with a bit of accusation in her gaze. "You knew, didn't you?"

"Yeah, _we_ did," she admitted. "But I wanted to let you figure it out yourself. Had I known ... I would have warned you."

"Yeah, well, how were we supposed to know he put a spell like _that_ …" Kate trailed off and let the comment hang in the air, taking hold of K's arm as she went back to staring at a point in the distance beyond the garden that didn't actually hold any interest for her but was better than looking down at her own stomach.

"I didn't realize he _could_ do something like that," K replied, then shook her head lightly. "Sorry. You're like … five, six weeks in. Honeymoon baby."

Kate let out another breath and put her face deeper in K's shoulder. She stayed there for a long time, clearly ordering her thoughts, and K wasn't about to rush her when she'd had such an obvious shock. "First time I met him," Kate said at last, slowly, "he had a spell on Kurt so he could meet the woman who said 'I love you' back to him after the last time they'd crossed paths. He's… yeah."

"See. I didn't get that memo?" K told her and then gave Kate a little squeeze. "But, you know, now that you know, I'm sure the boys will freak the frak out, and you and I will get to spend many hours conspiring against them."

Kate let out a little laugh at that. "Yeah, Kurt… is already freaking out," she admitted. "More robin's egg than navy blue right now."

"At least there's that," K replied. "I think it took Logan all of thirty seconds to go from '...oh' to grinning like an idiot."

"Well ... demonic issues." Kate looked down at her stomach with a small sigh, the smile falling yet again before K gave her a little squeeze.

"I understand that. We have Weapon X issues," K replied. "Everyone has something."

"Especially in our business," Kate agreed. She let out a sort of disbelieving noise. "Married for all of what… a week or two... and already…."

"Yeah, well, at least it went in order," K said with a sigh. "I still haven't entirely ruled out the possibility that mine did this on purpose."

Kate laughed out loud at that. "Yeah, mine didn't do this on purpose," she teased lightly. "Yours is… sneakier, though. Gotta watch out for him."

"Yep. And he'll never admit it if he did."

"Well, he's just an evil genius." Kate picked her head up with a little grin. "I'm not sorry he did though — at least on the part of getting you two married," she teased.

"Really? This is probably the first time in the history of ever that the baby trap worked the other way around," K replied.

"Well, it's not like you two do anything the normal way," Kate said, grinning quietly.

"Pot, kettle, my darling."

"Oh, I'm well aware," Kate said with a smirk. "You weren't there to see Logan's face when I told him _I_ was going to propose."

"It's their own fault, really," K decided. "Picking not-typical _swooning_ girls. They get what's comin' to 'em."

"And so do we," Kate said, gesturing at K's steadily growing stomach and then her own. "Marrying old-fashioned like we did."

"Yeah, well ... they're pretty damned irresistible."

"True. We never stood a chance," Kate laughed. She chewed on her bottom lip for a second before she looked K's way. "D'you think I'll get a grace period of dangerous missions, considering I've got distance with the bow?" she asked hopefully.

"Not a chance," K said dryly. "The second Logan knew, he was playing interference — and that was sooner than you guys got the news. There is no chance those two are going to keep it to themselves or prevent Scott from wadding up his panties even tighter. I'm surprised that man can breathe right now."

"Yesterday, I would've pointed out, you know, Sinister. Today, I want to hit him with my bow," Kate admitted. "At least I can still _shoot_ though. Won't let him cancel my classes," she added, a bit smugly.

"You know … that's a fine argument, and you've given me an idea," K said thoughtfully. "Are you feeling better? I have a phone call to make."

Kate nodded and got to her feet. "Air helped," she said.

"Yeah, that's what I figured too," K said as she took Kate's arm. "Let's go see how guilty Kurt feels. You're not as mean as me, but if you want, I can make him feel worse."

"It's not _his_ fault his dad's like he is," Kate pointed out.

K looked at Kate as if she simply couldn't believe her ears. "I'm sorry … it's not … did you get this way all on your own? No .His fault."

"We'll see how he feels. I just want pampering level of guilt, not crushing kind," Kate said with a small smile.

"Well, let me know if you need the other. If anything, you can bet Logan set him on the path to spoil the crap out of you."

"Ah, my good ol' guardbody," Kate said with a smirk. "Hasn't been able to stop spoiling me for ages, pretty much since we met, really. I have that effect — I'm just awesome or something."

"Guardbody with a guilty conscience more like," K told her. "I think he's not been real thrilled with Sinister's interest level, and he's questioning his decisions."

"Sounds like both of them are sitting pretty heavy in the guilt complex," Kate said with one eyebrow raised.

"Kurt lives there," K said as they opened the door to the kitchen.

"It's sometimes adorable, especially when he tries to take the blame from me," Kate said. "But only sometimes."

"I just hit mine when he does that," K told her. "Try that. Hit 'im real hard."

"He'll probably say he deserves it," Kate said with a wry grin. "Especially considering this is partly his fault."

"You really need to readjust your level of blame," K muttered under her breath.

"Can't do that," Kate told her frankly. "I like my smiling Elf too much."

"I know," K said in a little bit of a distant tone before she cleared her throat. "So. Now that you know ... any mystery symptoms that suddenly make sense? I was tired as hell to start with. And dizzy."

Kate closed one eye and tilted her head to the side as she thought about it. "Um… mostly just… slightly emotional? But I thought… you know, it was around that time of the month…."

"That never came? Yeah. There's a clue."

"We've been so _careful_ ," Kate breathed out, sounding a little more upset as she thought about it. "Because of his dad ... we just… we've been careful!"

"Well, at least you had that going for you," K said with a little laugh. "But the good news is: this means you get your own little baby Elf. The bamfs are going to be hysterical."

"Oh. They… they're going to go nuts," Kate muttered. "Pretty sure the only reason they're not going nuts right now is that Azazel scares them to death, and they tend to scatter when he shows up." She smiled lightly. "Not to mention they were leaving us to the flirting…"

"And you know the Elf's got an instant best friend," K said, gesturing to her stomach.

"Give them a couple decades and they'll be drinking 'water' and kicking bad guy butt better than their dads," Kate said.

"Oh my God. Imagine them _with_ their fathers. Four-way trouble."

"The world is _so_ not ready for that," Kate said, pulling a little face.

"Too bad; it's happening now," K laughed. She drew her arm through Kate's and gave her an encouraging smile. "I'll spare you the mess of questions you're about to get dropped on your head. When everyone asks you the same thing over and over, just answer them with 'it's too early to tell anything' and be non-committal on anything specific."

"You know I married the drama teacher, right? The whole school is going to know just about everything as soon as it happens."

"Yeah, and you'll get tired of explaining to everyone that wants to hear it from _you._ This is a real thing. Jubilee has picked Logan's brain and then turned right around and tried to check answers with me five minutes later." She gave Kate a look. "And then she just wants to snuggle up and feel for kicks. I hope you can tolerate people touching you more than I do. I'm about ready to tear people's limbs off and beat them to death with them."

"Well, as Logan says, I _am_ a little cuddle ball," Kate pointed out. She shook her head, but then she stopped in her tracks as a thought occurred to her. "Oh. _Clint_."

"Will be thrilled."

" _Obnoxiously_ so," Kate said.

"I'll just sit back and watch then. Free show."

"Oh, so this was a one-time rescue pass?"

"No. ee'll work out a system. Something subtle. Just … caw loudly when you want me to bean him with something."

"So very subtle," Kate laughed.

"I kinda like it," K defended with a broad grin.

"I think I'll just start blowing fire if I need you. That's one of the symptoms, according to you and America, right?"

"Right. I forgot. Wait. I'll get the marshmallows. A little warning before it happens, okay?" K requested. "Can't waste good fire — and s'mores actually sound pretty attractive."

"You? And sugar?" Kate tipped her head at her.

"I know. Sign of the end of days," K agreed with a laugh as she held up her hands. "Doesn't mean I'll actually _go through with it_ , but ... it's a thought."

Kate laughed as the two of them finally reached the door to the living room, and she wrapped K up in a hug. "I'll tell you if I start showing any dragon-like signs," she promised.

"Oh good," K said, squeezing her back before she dropped her voice to a whisper. "This is not a bad thing, so I've been told repeatedly by your husband. And mine. It'll be fine."

"I really, really hope so," Kate said quietly. "I hate fighting Kurt's dad, to be honest."

"Well, I don't mind — and I'll be done way before you," K offered. "I can tear things off for him."

"Sounds fair," Kate said with a small smile. "You only have one ear — you should get the matching set."

"I was thinking of tearing off something lower, to be honest," K said at an even lower whisper. "Hang 'em from my rearview mirror."

"You know some of the _kids_ park in the garage," Kate teased.

"Might ward 'em off of trying to take my parking space," K replied with a smirk.

Kate just laughed and shook her head before she pushed open the door with her shoulder to where the two men were still sitting on the couch. They'd restarted the fire at some point and were quietly talking — and Kurt no longer looked like he'd seen a ghost, at least.

K slipped over and onto Logan's lap, sliding her arm around his shoulders before she gave him a quick kiss. "How about we leave these two alone?"

Logan nodded his agreement before he clapped Kurt on the shoulder without another word spoken between them and just picked K up to walk out. "You two try and play nice. See you in the morning," Logan called out as K gave the pair of them a little wave over Logan's shoulder.

"How long do you think he'll keep carrying her around like that?" Kurt asked with a little smirk.

Kate just had to laugh at that and shrug. "I don't think he's going to stop anytime soon," she said. "Maybe never. The man's a hug magnet. He needs human contact."

"He really does," Kurt laughed lightly. "And she's a hug he can _carry._ Convenient."

"Very," Kate agreed as she slid in underneath his arm to sit next to him on the couch by the fire.

He pulled her a bit closer and kissed the top of her head, letting the silence and the kiss speak for him for a long time before he let out a sigh. "I'm … sorry for all of this," he said very softly.

"Not your fault your dad is a class A creep," she tried to assure him as she settled in deeper with her head on his chest and pulled him that much tighter. "You're nothing like him, so ... he's just… not your fault."

"Yes, but …" He frowned deeply and shook his head. "We never considered the possibility. Even with everything that happened with Sinister, we thought it wouldn't touch us… And yet here we are. For _that_ I am sorry."

She fell silent for a moment and snuggled into him a little more, both arms around his middle and her face half buried in the center of his chest.

He let her sit in the silence she needed to process it all before he tipped his head to the side and tried to sneak a peek at her. "I think we too, should go to bed," he said finally. "Unless you need something else?"

She let out a breath and very slowly shook her head. "No, I'm… okay," she told his shirt, still half buried in it. "Bed sounds good."

" _Ich glaube es nicht, aber ich bin nicht dumm genug, um zu streiten_ ," Kurt muttered into her hair.

Kate laughed quietly. "Well I don't think there'll be much sleeping," she admitted as she readjusted her hold on him to tighten her arms.

"Yes, the sanctity of our home has once again been disturbed," he agreed as he pressed a gentle, reassuring kiss to her forehead.

"At least this time we were in the _living room_ ," Kate said, lifting her head the slightest bit so he could see the face she was pulling.

He gave her a tired smile and leaned down to kiss her gently. "Upstairs then?"

" _Bitte_ ," she said with a smile that matched his. "Should at least _try_ to get some sleep, I suppose. Before we figure out… all the other stuff."

He nodded his agreement before he teleported them both right from the couch to the bed upstairs, without shifting them in the slightest, though it was clear he was half watching Kate to make sure the 'port didn't make her sick. But when she simply reached out one hand to pull the covers over both of them, he nuzzled into her hair and watched her as she pretended for his benefit to go to sleep — though she definitely had far too much on her mind to even quiet down enough to relax, much less sleep.

* * *

Translation from German:

 _Ich glaube es nicht, aber ich bin nicht dumm genug, um zu streiten -_ I don't believe it, but I'm not stupid enough to argue.

 _Bitte_ -Please


	9. Billy Can't Keep His Mouth Shut

**Notes: hey Griezz! Glad you're still sticking with us. The problem was in the translation, not the word used itself. That was on me (robbie), and I've changed it since. I had a total brain fart. I use 'danke' and 'bitte' all the time regularly in conversation with my best friend from college but for some reason I wrote down 'thank you' and I don't know why? She should be saying 'please,' as in, 'please take me upstairs.'**

 **And a little language lesson from CC: Bitte has many meanings, (we've got it listed as 'please'), and for how it's used, it was done so appropriately. In addition to meaning 'please', it can also mean 'you're welcome' or 'here it is' or 'pardon me' or 'can I help'. It's all about context.**

 **Also, hello Scruffy! You must've been running a marathon of emotions getting through all the chapters leading up to this one lol. You know the bamfs are totally going to love the fuzzy baby elf ALL over the place!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: "Billy Can't Keep His Mouth Shut"**

* * *

Kate hadn't actually fallen asleep until nearly dawn, so it was around just after lunch when she finally, sleepily, made her way to the kitchen for coffee. She was still half-distracted, though the bamfs, who had caught onto what was going on, were watching her closely, half hovering in the air over her shoulder with heads tipped to one side as she poured herself a mug of hot coffee and sat down on the counter, content to drink her coffee in silence as she slowly woke up and let them more or less wring their hands over the whole affair.

"Any big plans today?" K asked from the table nearby after a long stretch of silence.

Kate shook her head lightly. "Nope. Just coffee and my own thoughts."

"Well, Scott was looking for you," K informed her. "I warned him to back off, though. Gave him a growl so low it had Logan raising an eyebrow."

"Thanks," Kate said over her coffee mug, a little smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I don't really have the energy to deal with… anybody this morning."

"Afternoon — and I've got you," K replied.

Kate smiled gratefully and saluted K with her mug. "Right back at you, anytime, you know," she said before she took a small sip and peered at K. "What… what all does Scott know?" she asked carefully.

"He knows Azazel got in — and out. He knows Logan and I, and you and Kurt know about it, but he doesn't know the why or how or any of the details. You'll be happy to hear that the guys didn't say a word."

Kate smiled at that, though she shook her head. "Would almost be easier if they did — then he'd have his answers and leave me alone," she muttered.

"Yeah, that's not really a deterrent. Pro tip for future reference: he can know when you're ready to tell him. Until then, and more so _after_ ... just cry to get him to back off," she said with a little shrug as she went back to studying the bottom of her coffee mug. "I accidentally discovered he can't take that at all."

"Oh, I know about the crying," Kate assured her.

K shook her head. "Not just crying. _Full body_ _crying_."

"Oh?" Kate raised both eyebrows. "I didn't hear… when was that?"

She looked reluctant to answer for a few moments before she relented. "A while ago. He makes a really good cuddle-you teddy bear."

"That… alright then." Kate shook her head at K and let out a small noise of near disbelief. "I'm sorry you were full body crying and I didn't know to like — I don't know. Draw you a picture with the bamfs to cheer you up or something."

"That would have been almost as good as all the time he spent snuggling me, but honestly, I really don't like it when anyone knows I'm like that. He just managed to stumble into my hiding spot." K let out a breath and went back to stirring her coffee. "Besides ... the look I got from Logan for coming back _smelling_ like Scott was enough to get a smile. Possessive boys."

Kate had to chuckle at that and shook her head before she refilled her coffee. "You got any plans, then, or are you just keeping Scott off my tail?"

"I have something in a little while," K admitted. "But ... I'm not ready to go to that yet. Oh, and Logan's trying to take over on my riding lessons now."

"Can't you ride sidesaddle?" Kate teased.

"That's what he got mad about," K replied. "I promised not to ride astride — and then I showed up to class riding sidesaddle. For some reason, he didn't find the humor in it. Though he came pretty close to a nice shade of purple for a second there."

"And I missed it?" Kate laughed. "Shame."

"Pretty sure I can get it out of him again," K said with a smirk.

"You know, it's not about the riding," Scott said as he stepped into the kitchen trying to keep the disapproving look on his face. "It's about what happens if you _fall_." K pulled a face at him and rolled her eyes before he turned to Kate. "But I'd like to talk to _you_ about last night."

"Seriously, Scott, it's… don't," Kate said with a little frown.

"I guess I just don't understand it," Scott said as he took a seat next to K, and she barely paused before she leaned over sideways to rest her head on his shoulder. "That's all I want to do — understand it. He didn't attack you? Nothing was broken, no one was hurt. So what did he want?"

"He just…" Kate puffed out all the breath in her chest before she buried her face in the coffee.

"He's a creep," K said as she peeked up at Scott. "But you'll have to take a numer. Kate is going with me to see Henry right now. I need a girl with me. Sorry. You'll have to interrogate Kurt. It was his demonic dad, after all. Kate here is an innocent bystander."

"I _did_ ask Kurt, and he and Logan gave me non-answers," Scott said, the tone of frustration obvious.

"You say that like it's a new development," K said, her tone matching his.

"It's not new, but Azazel popping in without trying to kill anyone is," Scott pointed out.

"Well, you know he doesn't want to kill Kurt or Kate. Logan and I were out, and weren't we his target last time? Who knows what he's thinking. Guy's a pain," K muttered before she wrapped her arm through his and leaned on him a tiny bit heavier. "He makes me _tired_."

"You didn't even fight him," Scott pointed out, though his tone was much less sharp than before as he looked her over with a raised eyebrow.

"I know, but even catching his stink makes me tired. I can't kill him, Scott. It's not fair."

"It would be easier if he just stayed on that island," Scott agreed before he glanced Kate's way. "I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out — how to keep him from getting out. Again."

"Maybe we need to talk to Ilyanna or Doc Strange," K said. "I heard you tossing them around earlier. Has to be a way, right?"

"If there is one, we'll find it," Scott agreed. He nodded slightly and let out a sigh when he saw that Kate was simply staring at her coffee and not offering any commentary. "Though for now, I'm more interested in keeping him out of the mansion going forward."

"Yes, that would be great," K said before she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "But we have to go down by Hank." She rested her hand on the top of her belly. "Check up day. He wants to see if he can tell if it's a boy or a girl."

"I thought that was later today," Scott said with a poorly hidden smirk.

"No, he said after lunch — and it is after lunch," K said. "I wanted to get it done before Logan takes over the riding lessons and raises my chances at Hank having to deal with riders with injuries. I don't want to fight a crowd or have a bunch of kids hanging around for that."

Scott chuckled the slightest bit. "Good point." He looked from K to Kate and nodded. "Good luck on your appointment," he told K before he tipped his head at Kate. "I'll catch you afterward."

K raised one eyebrow at Kate with a little smirk. "He's so going to try and slip in and see for himself what I've got cooking," K whispered after Scott left.

"He'll probably be disappointed. I heard the little one has been shy for Hank," Kate teased.

"Smart kid," K said, smirking, before she stood up. "Ready to go? Might as well watch me squirm."

Kate smiled at that, twisting her hands a bit. "Well, I was going to stop by Hank's at some point anyway. Figured he should be one of the first to know… all things considered."

"He'll be tickled. He'll have a two-fer, and he is a giant marshmallow over this stuff," K told her. "Be ready to be handled by the most gentle fuzzball on the planet."

"Sounds horrible," Kate laughed as she offered K her arm.

"Treats me like I'm a china cup," K told her. "You'll see. It's ridiculous." The two women headed down to the lab, and when they got there, the room was entirely empty, save for one furry blue doctor hanging from the ceiling and reading. When he spotted them, he dropped to the ground, performing a complicated little somersault to land on his feet and grin at them as they approached.

"I must admit, I assumed you'd try to put this off a bit longer," Hank said as he delicately took K's hand and led her over to the bed, where he had a whole collection of medical equipment waiting.

"Logan's taking over my riding classes. I'm expecting you to have injuries," K explained as she hopped up on the bed in a manner that had Hank frowning at her. "And Kate wanted to come with."

"Wanted to see your bedside manner," Kate chuckled. "And specifically your baby bedside manner ... seeing as Annie went with Scott and not any of us for the premiere of the Hank the Pediatrician Show."

He turned to her and gave her the warmest smile that she'd ever received. "Indeed," he replied with a coy grin. "And . that's the only reason you came down?"

Kate had to laugh just a bit. "The nose knows?" she asked, shaking her head.

Hank blushed slightly, though he matched her laugh as well. "I'm afraid so."

"Then, yeah, there's a secondary reason," she admitted, smiling slightly at his expression.

"Well," Henry said, pulling a second bed over. "Why don't we get all of the blood work out of the way before we take a peek at our tiny Wolverine?"

"Fair enough." Kate gave K a little look before she one-handedly vaulted onto the bed. "Go ahead, Dracula," she teased Hank. "I can take it."

Hank chuckled as he made his way to Kate first and went through the preliminary blood draw on her before taking a deep breath and laying out everything he needed to do the same for K. "It's a bit _quicker_ of a process here," Hank explained before he dove into it. "Fighting the healing for something as simple as blood — it makes things more complex." As soon as he had that covered, and there were many vials of both women's blood in his little creepy caddy, he drew the curtain closed around them and simply got started with the ultrasound.

It was fast, and both the heartbeat and a little face popped right up on the screen, getting a sedate smile from Hank as he started already pointing out different parts — the profile; the tiny, long-fingered hands; all of the structural stuff; before he asked if K wanted to know the sex.

"Nope, I'm good," K replied, ready to wipe off the goo and pull her shirt back down.

"I thought you might want that to hold onto ... since there is a small problem," Hank said with a little frown. "The baby is being cooperative and comfortable — must be asleep — so it should be easy enough to see."

"What kind of problem?" Scott asked from the door — he had apparently arrived at exactly the wrong (or right) time to hear that.

Hank looked over the top of his glasses at Scott before he looked to K, who shrugged. "Come on in, Scott. Can't imagine what brought you down here," K said, staring up at the light over head.

"Just checking in on my teammate," he said lightly, though he looked past her at Hank with that same insistent frown that meant he wasn't to be deterred. "What's up, Henry?"

"The baby is perfectly healthy, as far as I can tell," Hank said before he took a deep breath and turned his attention to K, resting one hand on top of hers. "But it looks as though you're going to need surgery when the times comes for the birth." He pointed to the screen to explain. "The adamantium graft. They didn't take into consideration any future children. You physically can't do it. The halves of your pelvis are essentially welded together — and they won't be able to separate as nature intended."

"Well that's just freakin' perfect," K muttered, looking a lot more tired than she had just moments before.

"Other than that, the little one is measuring a bit small, though I'm not entirely surprised, all things considered. Are you sure you don't want to know the sex?" Hank said with a little frown.

"I'm sure," K said, fixing him with a glare. "And if you accidentally let it slip, I'll turn you into a throw rug." Hank gave her a look before K let out a breath. "I already know. I just want to keep everyone else guessing."

"When did you find out?" Kate asked, genuinely curious.

"Tyler checked me over after Sinister," K said. "That's why Logan was in such a fine mood for his birthday."

Kate grinned outright at that. "Well that explains the singing," she said low enough for K to hear.

"Pretty much," K said her way quietly before she looked up at Scott. "Sorry. Gotta be a surprise. I know Annie had faith you could be sneaky for her."

"I'm not half bad at keeping secrets," Scott pointed out with a smirk.

"I know," K replied with a smile his way. "But I want to surprise _someone_."

He gave her a clearly disappointed sort of wave and a sigh before he looked Hank's way. "But besides needing surgery, everything looks good? It won't be too complicated?" he asked.

"Aside from fighting the healing factor? It should be simple enough. I'll need to run the bloodwork to see where the adamantium levels are, but judging by her consistent lack of any real weight gain? It's safe I think to sic Annie on her."

"Oh, come on," K said with a sigh. "I eat."

"Come on, K," Scott said cajolingly. "It really does make her happy to know she's helping out, especially since you've been helping her."

"Only for major stuff. Birthdays. Holidays. I keep out of her way otherwise," K defended.

Scott chuckled. "Except when you're teaching her how to defend herself."

"She asked me to, kinda," K muttered, though she didn't miss the look on Scott's face as he looked up at the screen one last time before Henry turned off the machine. "You're squishy for babies, Cyclops."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said with a smirk.

"Make sure you're not too far away when it happens," she warned. "I'm going to need to see you holding the little one to feel better after Hank filets me."

Kate snorted out a laugh, while Scott's eyes sparkled the slightest bit as he tried not to do the same. "I'm sure I'll be around," he said.

"You better be," she said with a little heat. "I have Peter set up for a very special shot. He's dying to see it happen."

"Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint Spiderman," Scott said, smirking a bit wider now. "I promise - I'll be there."

She waved him over to pull him down and kiss his cheek again. "Thank you."

He flat out grinned at her. "No problem," he said, pulling on his shirt to straighten it the slightest bit as he stood up before he finally noticed the cotton ball and bandage in the crook of Kate's arm. He tipped his head her way with a small frown. "Kate, you feeling okay?" he asked.

"Just ... doing some follow up from last night's visit from Azazel," Kate said with a light shrug, though she knew that just meant she _had_ to tell Scott what was going on, because she didn't want his imagination running wild with all the things that might be wrong with her. "Apparently... he had some kind of escape hatch where if Kurt ever got around to grandkids, it would let him off the island? I don't really understand it, but…" She shrugged again, this time up to her ears as Scott looked downright gobsmacked. "Surprise!"

"This is the whole problem with teammates getting involved," K said dryly as she cleaned up. "Right about the time the guys realize they're outclassed, they turn around and gotta knock a girl up."

Scott looked between Kate and K for a second like he was half expecting them to spring a "just kidding," but when Henry nodded the slightest bit too, he broke into a _huge_ grin and crossed the span in a few long strides to give Kate a brief, warm hug. "Congratulations!" He was still grinning as he released her. "I didn't know — that's great news, even if Azazel was the one to bring it."

"Yeah, it was a surprise to us too," Kate said dryly, though she couldn't hide the smile at their team leader's enthusiasm — especially since a hug like that was rare, and she knew it. "Anyway, don't tell anyone yet, okay? So far it's just us in this room and Logan and Kurt."

"Not my secret to tell anyway," Scott said with a nod. "It's your call, Kate."

"You better check with Kate before you open your yapper to Annie," K said quietly. "That woman cannot keep a secret for beans."

"And I'd like to tell Annie myself anyway," Kate said, because it looked like Scott might argue the point.

"Fair enough; if she'd tried to make the same deal, she'd probably still be denying it," Scott teased K's way.

"I am only at the intermediate level of denial compared to my friend here," Kate agreed, laughing quietly.

"If I take away a century, I'm just past being a teenager," K defended. "Scandalous. Just scandalous."

"It's more scandalous when you consider I'm still one if you take away a decade," Kate teased.

"Easier subtraction for me," K laughed. "Just forget to write the one."

"True," Kate allowed, then leaned back with a little grin Scott's way. "I'll probably tell everyone maybe… around Valentines. Think you can keep it secret for a couple more weeks or so?"

"Not a problem," Scott promised, still grinning wide as Kate shook her head at him and waved him off.

"Stop grinning like that, boss man. It's obscene," she teased.

"I've got to do it now, before I get out of the lab," Scott teased right back before he gave her one last hug. "Alright, I've got to go give Kurt a hard time now. But in the meantime — congratulations. Really and truly. You two deserve to be happy, and this…" He grinned wider. "It really is amazing."

Kate put both hands on his shoulders to push him away from her, shaking her head and still laughing at him. "Take your stupid grin with you, boss man," she instructed, and he beamed and waved as he headed out the door, all while Henry looked like he might burst as he watched the whole interaction with a wide grin of his own.

* * *

As it turned out, it was more difficult to keep the little secret than Kate and Kurt had perhaps realized — not because the few people in their circle of trust couldn't be trusted to keep the secret but because there were other considerations to be made in their case in particular.

Even though Scott now knew exactly what it was that had brought Azazel to the mansion, he still insisted that it would be a good idea for Strange and Ilyanna to come and see what they could do, because Azazel _was_ still on the loose, and Scott wanted to make sure they were taking at least some precautions.

So right at the beginning of February, the two magic-makers had shown up at the mansion… with Billy and Teddy in tow. Apparently, Billy had decided to continue his training with Strange and wanted to tag along to help.

As soon as he stepped through the door, he flung his arms around Kate's neck and pulled her into a hug. "How you doing?" he gushed before Teddy did the same. "I heard you got a visit from the monster-in-law. Are you okay?"

"As okay as I can be after a visit like that," she promised them both as she wrapped her old friends in warm hugs.

They traded stories for a while as the two former Young Avengers brought Kate up-to-date on all that they had been up to. Billy was getting more powerful with every passing month, and he was _so_ grateful to have Strange around to help him deal with all that power. And Teddy had convinced Cassie to make sure that her first "official" debut as Stature returning to the public would be with the two of them — so that she came prepared with friends and also so that she had some serious muscle to back her up.

"She's gonna come on patrol with us next week," Teddy explained to Kate as Scott caught Ilyanna and Strange up on the gist of what had happened in low, quiet tones. Kate had given him permission to tell the two magic-makers about the spell, since, after all, they were there to help make sure Azazel wasn't the _worst grandfather ever_. And Scott was discreet and quiet — but neither of them had realized that Billy wasn't listening to Teddy, for once.

He did a full one-eighty as he turned toward Scott with wide eyes. "Wait," he said slowly. "Wait. Say that last part again."

Both Scott and Strange looked up at Billy, who had his hands on his hips and was looking between them and Kate in something like pure disbelief. "Which part?" Scott tried to cover, but Billy wasn't having it.

"The part about the spell — you were _just_ telling Doctor Strange…" He whirled around to face Kate more fully, and she was sure he was billowing his cape on purpose to add a bit of dramatic _I can't believe it_ flare to his expression. "Kate, are you — are you _expecting_?"

Teddy looked between Kate and Billy as she flushed the slightest of pink and pressed a finger to her lips, and Billy didn't hesitate before he all but tackled her in a hug, arms around her neck as Teddy finally got over the expression of shock and joined in.

The older adults in the room shared little smirks as Teddy picked her up and spun her in a circle and Kate gave them the condensed version of how they'd found out.

"Well, your father-in-law is just… stupid," Billy declared at last when Kate had finished her tale. "But never fear — because we'll figure out how to break that spell and send him back to the island so you two can raise _our nephew or niece_ in peace."

"Oh wow you've already adopted this kid," Kate said, shaking her head at him as Teddy laughed.

"Oh come on. Like you could keep us away," he pointed out before he tipped his head to the side. "So does the rest of the team know?"

Kate shook her head. "Not yet. I was trying to keep the circle _small_ , Billy," she said, shooting her friend a glare that he responded to with a bright and innocent smile that was fooling absolutely no one.

"I'll make him keep his mouth shut if I have to take his phone myself," Teddy promised, which got Billy to at least stop pretending to be innocent and look properly affronted before Strange finally broke into their little soiree.

"I'd like to take a look and see if there is any residue of this spell that we can work with," he said in a gentle but commanding tone. "If we can break it, that would be best, but if not, perhaps we can work within its confines to turn it on the caster."

The group of them ducked in somewhere a little more private as Kate let them into her office, where both Billy and Strange ran their own kind of magical investigation — which very nearly killed the lights in the room on at least three occasions, unsurprisingly.

When they were finished, Strange frowned the slightest bit and ran a hand over his chin as he thought it over until Kate just couldn't wait anymore. "Well?" she pressed.

"I'm afraid it's rather permanent," Strange admitted, sounding more than a little miffed about it. "Unfortunately, his ancient magics have always been stronger when his own flesh and blood is concerned, though I suppose we should be grateful it's a simple portal spell and nothing more - just a way to get from one place to the next." He ran a hand over his face. "Simply put, he's made himself an anchor, one he can use to leave any prison we would keep him in — and he has ensured we wouldn't want to break his anchor by tying it to the life of your progeny."

The others in the room looked wide-eyed at the revelation, and for some time, there was simply silence as they realized the gravity of the situation, and Kate let out a small sort of sound as she put her head on Billy's shoulder and muttered something about demons that nobody quite caught.

"There's no way to break it?" Scott asked at last, eyes flashing with anger on Kate's behalf.

Strange shook his head. "Even if, gods forbid, something were to happen to this child, the spell is permanent. It applies to _all_ his future progeny from this marriage."

"Can't we redirect it somehow? Send him to somewhere else that's _not_ Kate or her kids?" Teddy asked.

"We can't change the location," Strange said quietly, thoughtfully. "But perhaps we can at least ensure that his appearances are… not nearly so successful as they have been in tormenting these two."

"If we can't break it, we can at least make sure he can't touch them," Scott said, starting to follow Strange's train of thought.

The Sorcerer Supreme nodded and shared a few quickly whispered words with Ilyanna as they ran down a few options, and the others in the room just had to wait until they were done with their quick confab. "I'd prefer to have Nightcrawler here as well when we cast the spell," he said at last. "With this kind of flesh-and-blood spell, the closer to the source, the better, I'm afraid."

Scott didn't hesitate to reach for his comm. "I'll tell him you're asking for him," he said. "He and Logan are still out searching down cold leads, but I'm sure he'll be here in a second."

True to form, Kurt appeared in the office before Scott had even finished his sentence, glancing around the room for a second before he went to stand by Kate, though his gaze was on Strange. "What can I do?" he asked.

"For the moment, I simply require your presence," Strange said as he waved Billy over. "We three will be enough power to keep Azazel from being able to break the spell," he added before he quickly explained their idea to Kurt. "We cannot stop him from using your descendants as anchors and portals, but we can make sure he does not harm anyone when he arrives. Should he try to harm Hawkeye or any little one, our spell will freeze him to the spot."

Kurt nodded his understanding as he took Kate's hand in his. "And how long will this last?"

"He will be frozen for at least a full hour — which should be plenty of time to either escape or to remove him. The spell itself will last as long as you and your descendants live," Strange said. "We'll combat his flesh and blood magic with our own — which is why I need your presence." He let out a sigh. "It will be rather permanent protection, but while we cast it, it may be rather uncomfortable for you, Nightcrawler."

"Better a moment of discomfort than a lifetime of torment," he said without hesitation before he nodded Strange's way, and the three magic-makers joined forces to prepare the spell. "I'm ready whenever you are."

* * *

Teddy had been true to his promise to stay quiet for all of a week, which was pretty impressive for those two, but either he hadn't been able to rein Billy in or he'd also been too excited. Whatever the case, Kate got a text around midnight informing her that it was criminal that the rest of the team didn't know yet, and they were going to tell America and Cassie if she didn't move in the next ten minutes to do it herself.

Which would have been bad enough if not for the fact that after Kate got off the phone with two very loudly excited former teammates, she saw that she had a missed call from the freaking Avengers Tower and a voice mail from Cap asking if she was aware that her friends were taking the "joke" about her pregnancy "way too far this time."

Which was how Kate found herself on the phone at one in the morning with Captain America trying to explain that, no, the boys weren't lying. Yes, she was pregnant. No, she didn't need anything. No, she wasn't lying — she really did feel fine. Yes, she would like him to get mad at Billy and Teddy for spoiling the surprise announcement, and _yes_ , she would _definitely_ like him to stop them before they got to Clint before she had the chance.

She was just about done thanking Cap for steering them clear of Tony, who _so_ did not need to know there was a little hawk on the way waiting to be spoiled until Kate was good and ready to even think about things like that — when Jubilee all but _skidded_ into the room with a look like Kate hadn't seen since they first met and Kate had gotten into Logan's phone without Jubilee's permission.

"Cap, I gotta go," she said quickly. "I have a few X-Men here that need attention, apparently." She hung up the phone and tried for a disarming smile Jubilee's way, but when that didn't work at all, she was glad she had her office desk between her and Jubilee. "Hiya, Jubes."

Jubilee glared at her with her eyebrows raised and her arms crossed as she stalked into the room. "Hi? That's … that's all you have to say for yourself, _glitter queen_?"

"Um ... yes?" Kate leaned back in her chair the slightest bit with both hands held up.

Jubilee crossed the room and put both hands on Kate's desk to lean halfway over it. "Who. Knew." She lowered herself enough so that she was eye to eye with her. "And why the heck didn't you tell me?"

"It was gonna be a big glittery Valentine's announcement. There were _plans_ , Jubes," Kate said.

" _You were going to make me wait until Valentine's Day?"_ Jubilee said with a totally exasperated expression. "I had to hear it from America! And you live here!"

"Wow, America. I literally get off the phone with you for, like, half an hour to talk to Cap and you totally _betray_ me," Kate muttered into the air as she tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling in disbelief. "This is what happens when Billy and Teddy find out first."

"So you kept it from everyone here?" Jubilee looked totally betrayed.

Kate rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, you know… the ferals knew before I did?" she pointed out, tapping the edge of her nose.

"Those dirty little weasels!" She looked properly furious. "I'm going to kill him!"

Kate reached for Jubilee to try and put a placating hand on her arm. "They were waiting for _us_ to know before they said anything," she tried to explain. "And we didn't find out until, like, ten days ago when Kurt's dad showed up."

She blew a breath out that sent a stray lock of hair out of her line of vision. "Well. Fine. But that still sucks. You should have told us. Noh took it personally."

Kate's expression fell. "Oh, is he okay?" she asked quickly. "You guys were next on my list ... I just… got sidetracked by Captain America."

"Right. That's what the problem is. Putting stupid Steve Rogers ahead of your favorite firecracker. So. Freakin' Rude."

" _I_ didn't tell him. _Billy_ did," Kate defended. "He called me because he thought they were _joking_!"

"You could have told him to wait his turn," Jubilee replied with her arms crossed.

"I had to tell him to keep the boys from telling someone like _Iron Man_ before I could tell you guys," Kate said. "I wasn't even planning on telling _them_ … I was gonna tell everyone at once, but Billy overheard it when Scott was talking to Doctor Strange about the whole Azazel thing…"

"Scott knew first? _Scott_?"

"He caught me out when I went to Henry for a blood test," Kate admitted, slightly red-faced.

"You get a free pass on Blue," Jubilee conceded. "Doctor and all that." She thought it over for a moment, clearly working it through her head. "Okay. I'm going to have to hit Billy."

"That'd be great," Kate said with a little laugh. "Seeing as he ruined my plans. I was going to dump glitter on you and Noh as part of the official announcement nonsense." She shrugged up to one ear. "You guys were _so_ in my plans. Like, big parts. I swear."

"Liar," she said with a put out tone. "But whatever. I don't need your pity glitter."

"I can show you the receipts. I'm literally getting glitter containers in the mail in, like, two days. I was gonna attach them to arrows with foam tips."

"Whatever," Jubilee said before she walked around the desk and gave her a tight hug. "Congratulations, traitor. You need to tell Noh you're not mad at him."

"Apparently," Kate agreed as she returned the hug with a warm smile. "Sorry you had to find out from America. I'll make it up to you when we find out if it's a boy or a girl. You and Noh will be _first_ to know."

Jubilee just shook her head and rolled her eyes at Kate before the two of them linked arms, and Jubilee all but paraded Kate out of her office and toward her and Noh's room, where Noh was, indeed, looking a bit put out when he looked up and saw Kate.

Kate shook her head at her friend before she crossed the room in a few quick strides and wrapped him up in a hug that lasted until he finally had to crack a smile at her and return the hug with as much enthusiasm.

"There. You've been glittered now," Kate said decisively, though she didn't release her friend. "You so have to get Jubes to join the club now so that she can have a taste of her own glitter medicine."

"Kate…" Noh shook his head at her. "Congratulations," he said at last, in a softer tone than she was used to hearing from him.

"Noh, I'm so sorry you had to hear it secondhand!" she blurted out. "This totally got out of my control — I haven't even really processed it myself, and Billy overheard something he wasn't _supposed_ to, and you _know_ how he is about keeping secrets, and I wanted to tell everyone myself, but I'm still trying to get used to the idea and just... " She said the whole thing in a rush until she'd run out of words and then hugged him tighter. "You and Jubes are pretty much my best friends around here. You are _so_ going to be Uncle Noh and Aunt Jubes — you know that, right?"

Noh was quiet for a moment as a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth on seeing Kate just… _trying_ so hard to make it up to them both, and he let out a little laugh. "Well, if I did not know it before, I know it now," he assured her. "And I would be honored to be considered family to your little one — though I'm sure with your imps, you will not have to worry overmuch about any child of yours ever being lonely."

"Okay, that's true? But also? You know the little guy or girl _so_ needs a theme song from Uncle Noh," Kate said with an impish grin as she finally released him. "I mean, Scott's got 'Blackbird,' and you have 'Call me Baby'..."

Noh laughed outright. "Well, I'll have to meet your child and see his or her personality first," he pointed out.

"See? Already planning for the future. A+ uncle material," Kate teased. She darted in for another quick hug before she let out all her breath. "Sorry Billy and America got to you first," she said seriously. "This whole thing has totally gotten away from me. I didn't even know until a little while ago, and I wasn't even the _first_ to know! Or the second! Or the third!" She threw up her hands in frustration and shook her head as she tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling. "Remind me to tell you the whole story, because it sucked. Part of the reason I hadn't told anybody yet, actually."

Noh blinked at her in mild surprise before he seemed to understand and nodded sagely. "Ah, yes. Our resident ferals would have known when your scent changed," he reasoned, and Kate nodded.

"Yeah, and then Kurt's dad showed up with the full on grandpa glow, and I didn't exactly feel like celebrating, you know?" Kate said, then shook her head. "But I should've told you anyway. So, like I told Jubes — you two get to know the gender first. It's only fair."

Noh laughed. "You don't owe us anything."

Kate grinned and gave him one last hug before she got Jubilee too. "It's late, and I'm going to sleep, but tomorrow, I'll tell you everything over coffee, okay? It's… a really, really crazy story."

"With Hawkeye and Nightcrawler as the central players, somehow, that doesn't surprise me," Noh teased lightly, and Kate just had to snort out a laugh his way before she waved her fingers at them both and slipped away before anyone else could get mad at her.


	10. Traitor Baby

**Notes: Griezz: I mean, Billy has always been one of Kate's closest friends and he is honestly such a sweetheart that he couldn't *possibly* keep his mouth shut. It's not even that he's a talker; he's just so excited, man. As for Clint… well… you'll see… *presentation hands***

 **And O… omg. We both laughed. So. Hard. It's like you know us or something. I mean wait what are you talking about *throws fluff at you to distract you***

* * *

 **Chapter 10: "Traitor Baby"**

* * *

Things were getting terribly uncomfortable for K. She still wasn't exactly measuring the way that Hank wanted to see her — and still, from behind, it was very hard to tell that she was expecting at all. The little bump had turned more prominent, but it was pretty apparent that already — with a couple months left to go — there didn't seem to be much room for the little one to go anywhere.

K had already taken to trying to avoid nearly everyone, and more often than not, she could be found in bed — partly from exhaustion, and partly from Hank's orders to rest.

So, it was easy for Logan to find her — in bed, restlessly trying to find a comfortable position with a slightly pained expression on her face. He took a seat next to her and tried to rub her back a bit to ease her frustration. "You can't do anything," she said with an irritated tone. "She's being awful. Stretching and kicking my diaphragm. I can't breathe very well and I can't get her to _stop._ "

As if she needed to prove it, he watched as the little one kicked hard, and K let out a little 'oof' and looked to be turning a bit green as the baby shifted and turned. He gave her a little kiss on the temple, then slipped down to kneel on the floor and leaned in close to her belly for a moment.

"Behave," he said in a low, soft rumble. "Stop that now."

K frowned at him as if he was crazy, but sure enough, a moment or two later, the little one simply … stopped. "Oh. Come on," she muttered out in disbelief. "No! _NO, You can't listen to HIM_ ," she said with a little growl toward her stomach as Logan grinned at her and leaned up to kiss her. "That is just … so …." She covered her face with her hands as he slipped in next to her and wrapped himself partway around her with a little chuckle.

There was a light knock at the door as Kurt's voice called out from the other side, "Is everything okay? I heard… shouting?" He sounded a bit anxious.

"No!" K shouted back. "It most certainly is NOT."

That got Kurt to peek in the door with a look of pure concern, though when he saw that Logan was curled up with her, he looked confused instead. "Is there… anything I can do to help?" he offered quietly.

"Your godbaby is a _traitor_ ," K accused as Logan started chuckling harder.

Kurt looked relieved that it wasn't something more serious, and he tried to control his smile. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said.

"Been kicking the crap out of my liver all day and just … _stops_ when he says so," K explained.

Kurt couldn't help but chuckle when he heard it. "Well, Logan has always had a way with children."

"Unborn children?" K asked with a clearly stressed-out expression. "This is just _wrong_."

"The little one must know the sound of their father's voice," Kurt offered.

K shook her head before she looked between the two smirking men and buried her face in Logan's neck. "I give up."

"Look on the bright side," Kurt said, still chuckling a bit. "At least you know you can get them to behave."

"I almost want to tell you what we're having so I can curse more freely," K said, her voice muffled; she hadn't moved. "Almost."

"Whatever child you have, he or she will be a delight and love you both to pieces," Kurt said.

"Delightful traitor that sides with him. _Traitor_."

Kurt laughed and shook his head. "Well, if you don't need anything... " He headed for the door. "I'll allow you two some privacy."

* * *

It was the middle of March, and pretty much everyone on the team was glad for the reprieve when Clint sent out invitations to Gerry's birthday party. In the past few weeks, everybody had been working hard not only helping Kurt try to track down his father but also trying to help Scott find Sinister and his Marauders — because, apparently, with two pregnant women on the team, there was twice the worrying and fretting to do.

But it had been _weeks_ , and there was no progress on either front… unless you counted the fact that someone had sent Kate prenatal vitamins and a demonic teething ring covered in symbols that had Kurt hissing his displeasure the second he opened the box.

On the other hand, the next day, a green-wrapped box had arrived with perfectly-scripted golden handwriting: a present from Asgard with the explanation that the stone inside was imbued with spells to facilitate a healthy pregnancy, with an added, "I've been there," from Loki that Kate couldn't help smiling at.

Still, the chance to get out of the house and to go visit Clint and see him gush all over himself over his little boy sounded pretty good right about then — considering the best news so far was that the god of mischief had sent Kate a present.

When Kate and Kurt arrived at Clint's place with all their little bamfs, they were greeted by a very happy-looking little boy wearing a party hat over his blonde curls. "Aunt Katie! Uncle Kurt!" He toddled over to hug both of them around the knees and them by the hands. "Come on! It's a party!" he insisted as he pulled them in.

There was already a pretty good crowd gathered on the roof of Clint's apartment building. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage were trying unsuccessfully to hide their smirks as Logan seemed to be pinned down by Dani, who was determined to tell him all about her adventures at preschool and absolutely wouldn't let him up until she was done with her story, going so far as to poke him in the face or sides if she thought he wasn't paying her enough attention. Though, of course, as soon as she was done with her stories, he simply started to tickle her until she was gasping for breath and still giggling long after he was done.

Most of the other Avengers were there, too. Thor was incredibly sorry to hear that K wasn't feeling up to coming to a party but promised to send "gifts of plenty" as soon as the little feral was born, which had Logan smirking the slightest bit. Kamala and MIles were there too, and Kate noticed that Kamala kept checking her phone to read the pre-release critic reviews of the movie based on her book, while Miles kept trying to steal the phone away to tell her to "stop worrying" and "everyone will love it."

"How long have you two been dating now?" Logan asked Miles after he slipped silently behind him and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

Miles turned a brilliant red color and shook his head quickly. "Oh, we're not… No, she's just…. No, that's not…"

Logan raised his eyebrow at him. "You sure about that?"

Miles nodded. "I'm… not exactly the kinda guy her parents want her to marry?" he pointed out. "And they are _so_ pushing the marriage train."

"You're not dating and you're worried about who she's going to marry? That don't sound like you're not interested."

"Look." Miles looked over both shoulders and leaned in. "I am? But like ... she's always complaining about the Pakistani doctors her parents are forcing on her? So…"

"Ask. Her. Out," Logan told him frankly. "Or I'll tell her you like her."

Miles pulled a horrible face. "What are we in high school?"

"Says the guy afraid to talk to the girl he likes." He shook his head and took a step away from him. "I gotta go say 'hi' to little Miss Marvel." He slipped by Miles and headed right for her as Miles looked like he might just _die_. "Hey, Punkin'," he said to Kamala as he came to a stop next to her. "You look nervous."

Kamala broke into a wide grin when she saw Logan and quickly pocketed her cell phone. "Well, yeah! I mean, that movie's coming out in two weeks, and… I really, _really_ want it to go well," she admitted, bouncing slightly with the excess energy of her excitement.

"If it doesn't, it's the producer's fault, not yours," he promised with a little wink. "Relax."

"I'm _trying_ ," she admitted, blowing her hair out of her face.

"You need something to distract you," he said with a thoughtful look and a nod. "Got any interested boys?"

She pulled a face. "Define interested," she said.

"Ones worth spending time with that think you're cute."

She had to snort a bit at that. "Well, I _am_ cute, so that just means every guy I know," she teased. "But.. I dunno about the rest of it."

He returned the smirk at that. "I can think of one."

She raised both eyebrows at him. "Oh my _lord_. You're trying to set me _up_?" she asked at a disbelieving whisper.

"Nah. Just trying to point out you have an admirer," he clarified. "If you have fun with it or crush his little heart for giggles, makes no difference to me." He shrugged. "For all I know, you might enjoy destroying him. Either way, it's something to do other than worry about your movie." He leaned a little closer and let his voice drop to almost a whisper. "He's here. An' he's probably watching you."

Kamala chewed on her lower lip for a moment and she seemed to think it over and looked over the assembled guests. Her gaze found Miles for a second before she shook her head the slightest bit and blushed, turning to Logan. "Well… Gerry thinks I'm cute, but he's way too little," she tried to deflect, but it was clear Logan wasn't having it if the smirk was anything to go by.

"You _like_ him," Logan said with his eyes narrowed.

She turned a bit pinker. "Shut up," she muttered low.

" _Make_ me, Miss Marvel. What the hell? Talk about bad taste." Logan teased. "Kid can't shut up for thirty seconds."

"Neither can I?" Kamala pointed out, looking somehow more nervous. "Only I keep the really stupid stuff in my head."

"Well at least one of you can," he said with a little chuckle. "Come on, tell me about anything but that and watch him sweat. Trust me, it's _fun_. I promise."

She blushed again the slightest bit as she glanced over to where Miles did, in fact, look like he might just fall over. "Are you always this mean to people, or only at birthday parties?" she teased.

He smirked a little more crookedly. "Give me some credit; I'm being as nice as I can," he replied. "Because you're bitty. If you were adults, I'd have had it on the big screen in Times Square by now."

"Might want to start saving up for advertising space, then," she laughed. "Seeing as Hawkeye and Black Widow are doing the dance."

"Oh, that's not news. And I'm already on that one. Been giving Nat fits for months."

"So this is, what, a secondary mutation with you? Matchmaking?" she asked, still grinning as she had half an eye on the increasingly red Miles.

"Toldja, I don't care if you take up with him or crush his heart. Just pointing it out. Watching him squirm is half the fun. You're too young for me to seriously pick at." He tipped his head toward Natasha, who was watching him with a suspicious look. "They're not. They need a push to pull their heads out."

"That's the worst kept secret in the Avengers," Kamala told him with a little giggle. "And has been since he and Jess broke up, really."

"He's always had a thing for her," Logan told her before he clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Come on — let's go chat where Miles can't see us."

Kamala grinned and snagged one of the purple cupcakes from the counter. "Lead the way," she said.

Miles, meanwhile, had been watching the entire interaction and trying to figure out the best possible way to turn into an actual spider and hide under a rock when the other resident Spiderman joined him, the camera hanging easily around his neck now that Gerry had announced he was "done with pictures" and toddled off to go play with Kate, Kurt, and the bamfs and to be spoiled rotten by those imps.

"What, birthday parties for toddlers not really your thing?" Pete asked, bumping shoulders with Miles, who just looked all the more uncomfortable as he realized Pete had noticed his sheer terror.

"No, it's… _them_ ," Miles said, gesturing wordlessly toward Logan and Kamala, who had their heads together with wide grins on their faces.

"What about them?" Peter asked, eyebrows up.

"He's just — I mean — he's being a _pain_ ," Miles tried to explain, which got Peter laughing.

"Yeah, and what else is new?" he asked. "What's he doing now?"

Miles glanced over both of his shoulders before he leaned in close. "He's… he's totally busting me out to Kamala like we're in _high school_ or something."

"Did you know he's a teacher? He's around that stuff all the time, you know."

"Yeah, but..." Miles shook his head. "He gets to go home after this, and I still gotta be on a team with her when she knows... _stuff_."

Peter raised both eyebrows a bit higher as he turned to face Miles better. "So it's not just a tease?" he asked with a bit of seriousness, and when Miles nodded and looked slightly miserable, Pete puffed out his chest and set his sights on Logan. "Okay. You stay here for a sec," he told Miles before he headed over to give Logan a talking to about messing with his Spider sidekick.

Logan was sitting sideways on the couch with one arm on the back of it as he and Kamala talked about actually everything _but_ Miles. It looked like their conversation was light and easy as they chatted, though both of them stopped cold when Peter came up to them, and Logan managed as innocent a look as Peter had ever seen. "You lost?" Logan said. "Pretty sure the baby stuff is the other direction, and you have frosting in your hair."

"What's the big idea picking on the tiny spider?" Peter asked with as much menace as he could without sounding like he was getting mad at Kamala too. "He's still young and can't take it as much as I can."

"She likes him too, numbnuts," Logan said low, shaking his head at Peter's protective streak.

That got Peter's eyes wide, especially when Kamala turned a brilliant pink, and Pete's mouth opened and closed for a second before he broke into the widest smile Kamala had ever seen from him. "Well alright then. No worries, Wolverine — now you've got _real_ backup here," he said, puffing out his chest the slightest bit.

"Good, get to it. I have to get back to K," Logan said with a little smirk. "Have fun, kids."

Kamala gaped after him as he got up to leave. "You did this on purpose!" she accused him.

"What's your point?" Logan asked with a little smile.

"Evil genius," she muttered under her breath as Pete laughed outright.

"Not evil in this case," he assured her with a crooked smile. "You have any idea how long it took me to tell the girl _I_ liked the truth? And how long I could have _not_ been moping about it? Trust me — you'll thank us later." With that, he laughed quietly and headed off to talk with Miles — and this time, it was Kamala's turn to look properly mortified over the whole thing.

Kate grinned crookedly at Logan as he passed her on his way to the door. "Typical. Cause trouble and then leave," she called his way over the tops of the heads of a couple bamfs.

"I have trouble to get _back to_ ," he defended over his shoulder.

"If you say so," she said, though she had a troublemaking twinkle in her eyes. "I guess I'll just have to do the hard work of messing with the grown-up version of those two." She tipped her head significantly at Clint, who was sitting by Natasha with a wide grin and obviously trying to get her to laugh at something he'd said.

"Give 'em a bottle of vodka and turn off the lights. It works every time," Logan advised before he stepped out of the door.

Kate was grinning as she looked over at Kurt, who was gently redirecting Gerry from some of the bamfs trying to teach him how to growl properly. "Well, I guess we'd have to wait for everyone else to leave before we turned out the lights, but he has a point," she laughed before she got to her feet and gave Kurt a light kiss on the temple. "I'm going to go mess with the other Hawkeye, and then I think Logan has the right idea. I'm getting a little tired myself."

Gerry giggled when Kate kissed Kurt and pointed between the two of them. "Eww," he said, wiggling his eyebrows before he fell apart in giggles again — and the bamfs joined him.

Kate laughed and scooped up the little blonde boy to tickle him and kiss him on the cheek as he squirmed to try to get away from her. "That's right, baby," she said. "You just keep on believing in cooties for as long as possible before you go out and break hearts, you little troublemaker."

Gerry squirmed until Kate set him down and then waggled his finger at her. "No more kisses," he told her very seriously as a couple of the bamfs giggled and joined in the finger waggling.

Kate grinned crookedly and leaned forward to steal a kiss from Kurt before she laughed and headed off to go settle into the seat next to Clint with a wide smile. "Please tell me you're going to throw awesome parties for our little one too, because you're apparently pretty good at it," she teased Clint, bumping his shoulder with hers as he turned to face her with a wide grin, his arm resting on the back of the couch and not quite around Natasha's shoulders.

"Thought you were the resident party planner," Clint teased right back, and Natasha had to smirk and nod her agreement at that.

"He has a point. I've seen what you do to that mansion every Halloween," Natasha pointed out.

Kate chuckled and shook her head at both of them. "Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. "I see how it is — spoil the little blonde, but when it comes to the other Hawkeye? No love."

"You're kidding, right?" Natasha said, leaning forward with a little sparkle in her eyes. "He hasn't stopped gushing about the possibility of hawk hand-me-downs since you told him the news."

"It might be a little girl, you know," Kate pointed out. "We won't know for a few more weeks at least."

"You can still have some of the toys and stuff," Clint pointed out. "I mean, obviously the 'mama's little boy' bibs wouldn't work, but…" He trailed off and grinned at her. "You so need those if it's a boy, though. He'd love you to itty bitty pieces, Katie Kate."

"Well, like Kurt keeps saying — doesn't matter as long as the baby's healthy and happy," Kate said, though Clint chuckled at her.

"C'mon, Katie. You're secretly hoping for something." He leaned forward with a grin. "I won't tell a soul, cross my heart."

She grinned and shrugged. "Well, Jubes and I are both really hoping it's a girl, after the whole… four-year-old Katie business. Kurt looked really cute with a baby Hawkeye."

"I'll be sure to teach her how to fight," Natasha cut in with a sedate smile. "She should know these things if you're going to be living at the mansion."

"You're first on my list — after Logan," Kate assured her, grinning even wider when Natasha just nodded her agreement without argument. "And then when the little one gets older, we'll let Clint teach 'em archery with me, once they can be trusted with weapons around their uncle," she teased.

"Sounds like you got it all figured out, Katie," Clint said with a little laugh.

"Only sometimes," Kate replied. "Other times, it's more… _oh crap this is really happening_."

"Yep," Clint agreed solemnly, which got Natasha to smack him in the arm. "What? It's true. Look at Kurt's face over there playing with Gerry and tell me he's not having half an existential crisis," he pointed out.

Kate looked up at her adorable husband to see that, yeah, he did look half surprised at himself as he all but melted into a little Gerry hug. "He's been bouncing between feeling horribly guilty and dreaming up plans for a tail-proof nursery," she admitted in a low whisper, which had both Clint and Natasha laughing.

"And you?" Natasha asked after a moment.

Kate considered the question for a second before she just out the lightest of breaths and shrugged. "I'm doing a little bouncing myself. It… doesn't really feel real yet, actually," she admitted, gesturing down at herself. "Besides being tired, I don't really feel all that different? Maybe slightly more prone to crying, but… that's about it."

"I can kill anyone who makes you cry," Natasha offered with a little smirk.

"Yeah, you know you can call either of us if you need anything," Clint agreed, and Kate broke into a smile and hugged them both.

"I know," she told them both, beaming. "You're the best — both of you."

"Well, yeah," Clint said, grinning, and Natasha smacked him in the arm again.

Kate laughed at him and gave them both another hug. "Anyway," she said, the word coming out as more of a sigh than anything else. "It was good to see you both? But also… I'm fading something awful. Guess that's what happens when you're growing a little elf."

Natasha smiled sympathetically and nodded at her. "Go — take care of yourself. We'll see you next week when it's our turn to rotate into the X-Men," she said, giving Kate's arm a little squeeze.

Clint wrapped her up in a warm hug. "See ya round, Katie. And seriously — call me if you need anything. I'll be there in a second," he told her in a low whisper, and she hugged him a bit tighter.

It took her a little longer to disentangle Gerry from Kurt and the bamfs, however — because the little guy was fully intent on playing the growling game with the small army of imps, and Kurt had given up on trying to stop them, instead laughing out loud at Gerry's impression of "intimidating growling."

Kate put a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "I could use a good nap," she whispered in his ear, and he immediately nodded and whispered to the bamfs in low German that it was time to go, though it was hard to tell who was more disappointed as the little imps teleported away — Gerry or the bamfs.

"Leaving now?" Gerry asked with wide eyes, and Kate melted at the expression on his face as she swept him up to kiss his little forehead.

"We gotta go home, buddy," she told him. "But we'll come say hi really soon, okay?"

"Pwomise," he insisted, and it was only after Kate pinkie swore to come play with him "really, really, _really_ soon" that he stopped holding onto Kate's shirt with a baby death grip — though when he was immediately distracted by Dani's invitation to play with building blocks, Kate wasn't too worried about him, and she and Kurt simply teleported back home so she could get some rest.


	11. More Intrusive Methods

**Chapter 11: "More Intrusive Methods"**

When Logan had gotten back to the mansion after Gerry's birthday party, he of course,made a beeline for the room he shared with K. He knew she'd be there — nowhere else was quite comfortable anymore, and she didn't like being around people for the most part. There were a few exceptions of course, and when he stepped in the room, he had to smile at the sleepy look she gave him before she pulled the blanket back for him to join her.

He wasted no time kicking off his shoes and climbing in behind her to curl up and give her a quick kiss before she asked how the party went. He shook his head and reached up to cover her mouth. "Go to sleep." She made a point to bite his hand before she snuggled up tighter and pulled the blanket up so the two of them could drift off.

They hadn't been asleep for long, though, when there was a knock at the door and a very unamused-looking Kurt let himself in. "We need to go to Australia," he told Logan as soon as he saw that he was awake.

"No we don't," Logan mumbled. "There is nothing in Australia. I checked. Twice."

"I'm afraid there is. Your… former replacement… Laura just called to radio for help," Kurt said, obviously choosing his words carefully, as he wasn't quite sure what to call Laura — especially since she had taken up Logan's name when he was dead.

"Then she's a shoddy replacement," Logan muttered before he pulled K a bit closer.

"She and the other, older version of you ran into Weapon X in Australia, Logan," Kurt told him outright. "And they don't seem to be faring well. At all."

He let out a long almost groaning sigh as K patted his arm consolingly. "Damnit. Who do you have to go with?"

"For as bad as it seemed, I thought we might need a little help," Kurt said. "Everyone on the team seems willing to come — but since this is Weapon X…"

"Anyone who wants to go can go," Logan replied as he started to sit up, still cursing under his breath about how he'd _told_ her to be careful.

K sat up with him and gave him a quick kiss before he got up. "Don't get captured or killed, please." She looked over to Kurt. "Either one of you."

"We do try not to do things like that," Kurt promised her with a little smile. "And with most of the team coming along, I think we should be successful," he added with even more of a smirk.

"We'll make sure Scott stays close," Logan amended. "You girls need entertainment after all."

"I'd rather we had better entertainment, but … try to have fun," K said with a little wave before she moved over to snuggle into Logan's pillow in full view of both men — just to emphasize that she would have preferred her snuggles.

"We'll be sure to pine for our wives while we're suffering in the Australian heat," Kurt assured her with a serious tone that didn't match his grin at her antics and the look on Logan's face as he put an arm around his friend's shoulders. "I'm sure Kate will be here soon. She didn't seem pleased to be left alone either," he added.

"She knows where to find me," K agreed.

In fact, it was about five minutes between when the boys headed downstairs to gather the rest of the team to go to Australia and when Kate showed up in her pajamas and with a distinct frown on her face — she'd clearly been woken up by Kurt leaving. She didn't say anything to K except to simply crawl into the space Logan had once been occupying and pull the covers up over her shoulders. "Stupid boys," she muttered out, still half-asleep and grumpy. "Stupid everything. Leaving in the middle of the night, and us just… left behind like leftovers."

"You kinda get used to it," K muttered, her tone slightly down as she said it.

"Stupid," Kate said again, though she had definitely picked up on the down tone, because she was now snuggling into K's side and not just the blanket.

"At least I have a snuggle buddy now," K said quietly. "That's something."

"You should know I'm the one taking advantage here, not you. Seeing as this is your room and your bed," Kate teased as she snuggled in deeper. "But I am _not_ sleeping alone. It's _January,_ and it's _cold_."

"It's not so much the cold really," K disagreed. "I don't like being around people — most people, anyhow. So snuggles are good just for contact. It makes the being left behind a little less ... miserable."

"Well, there ya go. Turn it around on me so now I'm helping you. Sneaky feral," Kate teased, though she was already half asleep by then, her breathing evening out. "Maybe I'll just keep you and kick out my usual heater for abandoning me," she added around a yawn.

"Oh, no — when the guys get back, you're out on your ass," K muttered before she took a deep breath and settled in.

"Some things never change," Kate said with a little laugh that only lasted for one breath before she was simply asleep.

K smirked to herself, her eyes closed, though she frowned a bit. Usually this was where she'd get a bit dizzy still … but that part rushed by so quickly she hardly noticed it.

* * *

Scott had to try to restrain the smile that snuck up on him when Logan asked him to keep watch over K and Kate. He had plans to do it anyhow, since he didn't want the ladies and the twins to be home alone, especially considering _who_ the team was about to go fight, but … it was still nice for him to _ask._

Scott headed upstairs and gave Annie a little smile as she poked her head out of their room, anxious about any rescue that would take up the bulk of the team. But he gave her a warm smile and quietly promised he'd be there in just a moment. He just had to peek in at the girls and see how that was going.

He had no reason, however, not to grin outright when he saw K and Kate passed out on Logan's bed. Those two had only gotten closer since Kate found out her news, and it actually wasn't a rare sight at this point to see Kate headed in with a bowl of popcorn and a need for "girl time," as she often declared.

He wasn't too concerned anyway. Outside of the fact that it was Weapon X causing trouble, there was no reason to think this should be a hard mission. So, he very gently closed the door as he backed out of the room and went down to read the twins another bedtime story before he turned in himself.

He was part of the way through _Are You My Mother?_ when the proximity alarm flashed at him — the first of Noh's early warning systems that went right to his comm. He shared a glance with Annie before she very carefully slid in to finish the story, despite Chance protesting "want dad" and Charlie complaining very loudly "no go!" as Scott headed out to go check it out.

He was doing his best to preserve the sanctity of bedtime, and to do the usual storytime routine himself as often as possible, since being an X-Man didn't exactly always mean a steady schedule, so he wanted to give the twins as much stability and attention as he could. But the truth of the matter was that sometimes, he had to drop everything to go — and the twins hated it. Scott hated it too.

"I'll be right back," he promised the three of them before he grabbed his comm and his visor — just in case — and headed out the door to check out the disturbance.

And as soon as Scott exited the house, four tall, massive men entered silently in his wake and quickly moved through the mansion. They knew exactly where they were going, and they wasted no time getting there — to the bedroom at the end of the hall, and the one next to it, and Scott's room on the far end of the teachers quarters. The big men each had a canister with a pull ring on it, and at the same moment, they all pulled the rings and tossed them into the bedrooms before they very quietly pulled the doors shut and held them that way.

When the door clicked closed, K opened her eyes in a bit of a foggy haze, still exhausted. But the billowing smoke filling the room had her awake in an instant. "Kate!" she half shouted. "We gotta get outta here _now!_ " She held her breath and covered her mouth and nose with one hand and started to push on the door — but it wouldn't budge, and the door handle wouldn't move. She glanced toward Kate, who was hurriedly disentangling herself from the sheets with wide eyes, and popped her claws to cut her way out. But even with that, she couldn't get the stupid thing to move. She started just cutting into the door itself to make an exit — but when she got the wood to fall away, she had to take a step back as a Marauder pushed the remains of the door open, and she all but tripped on her own feet trying to get away from him.

He pushed forward and got a hold of her hands just to pull them away from her face as he held her down in the smoke, and within a few short moments, she was out.

At the same time, Kate had startled awake when K shouted for her, and in the haze of confusion and smoke, she'd run to the wall to grab Logan's sword and just try to do what she could to help, fully intending to lever open the door — before K got the wood to fall open and the Marauder who stepped through went right for K.

Kate was fairly dizzy herself from the smoke already, her night shirt pulled up over her nose and mouth. She sorely missed her scarf as she charged after the Marauder, sword held out as she managed a long, fairly damaging-looking cut along his arm to get him to release K — though considering K was already unconscious, that wasn't too helpful, and she simply slumped on the floor. But Kate's grip on the sword was rather tenuous with how dizzy she already was, and in one quick backhanded movement, the Marauder had knocked the sword from her hands and made a rush for her, pinning her arms to her sides to keep her still until she, too, had enough of the gas to go limp.

Scott, in the meantime, had been out on the grounds checking out the proximity alert, completely unaware of what was going on at the mansion as he frowned at what seemed to be a faulty piece of equipment. As far as he could tell, the thing had more or less shorted out, but with Noh's designs, that shouldn't have been possible.

He sighed, still unable to find any sign of why the equipment had malfunctioned, and decided he would just have to ask the Kree warrior to look over the equipment when he got back from Australia with the others. With nothing else that he could do there, he headed back, glad that he really was going to be able to keep his promise to the twins to come back quickly — and maybe even finish the bedtime routines. Chance's favorite thing to do was to 'help' his dad brush his teeth while Annie brushed his, and if Scott hurried, he'd be there in time for that tradition.

He got to the mansion at a light jog and had just shouldered into the front door with his hands in his pockets, already looking forward to getting back to his little family and spending some time in peace and quiet with Annie — when he saw the tall, pale Mr. Sinister simply standing in the entryway, unconcerned, looking like he'd strolled in without a problem. He had Charlie nestled in the crook of one arm, though she was glaring at him and pounding on him with little fists and trying to get loose, little whimpers echoing in the entryway. She seemed tired and sluggish, like she was fighting to stay awake, which immediately had Scott jumping to both concern and outright fury.

"Put her down," Scott said through gritted teeth when Charlie spotted him and redoubled her efforts to hit Sinister and try to get to her dad. " _Now_."

"I think you'll find you're in no position to demand anything, my boy," Sinister said almost lazily before he looked somewhere beyond Scott, and Scott had to turn to see one of the Marauders approaching the entryway with an unconscious Annie and Chance carried over two massive shoulders.

"You see," Sinister mused aloud, clear amusement in his voice. "I don't _need_ the rest of your little… family, especially not the boy." As he spoke, the Marauder let Annie fall to the floor in a heap and seemed to be regarding little Chance with distaste. The sleeping baby was blissfully unaware of the danger and had even snuggled in a bit, not realizing that the man he was snuggling had a hand on his chest not to snuggle him but to illustrate that he could crush the child in an instant.

Scott was glaring hard, his eyes a full on red and the blast barely checked as he struggled to come up with a way out that would keep his entire family safe, though that was hard when Sinister was _holding his daughter_. He couldn't blast him without risking Charlie — and if he made a move otherwise, the Marauder with the rest of his family… He couldn't get Chance _and_ Charlie _and_ Annie out of danger fast enough. And he knew it.

"Come along quietly, and no harm will come to them," Sinister said with a tone of unyielding authority. "All of them." With that, he tipped his head to the Marauders making their way down the stairs that were holding K and Kate as well. Both women, though unconscious, were tied — though it was clear Sinister had learned from previous dealings with K, since he had something that would keep her from biting anyone too, a sort of muzzle that stretched over the bottom half of her face.

For a long time, there was simply nothing Scott could think to do except to fix Sinister with a look of pure loathing and rage. The feeling went through his whole body — jaw locked, hands clenched, eyes narrowed. He simply couldn't trust himself to speak.

"I haven't got all day," Sinister said in a bored tone. "The distraction in Australia won't take up that much time. By the time your … team … left, I'd already had _my_ team procure my samples there."

At that, Scott, too livid for words, had to actually close his eyes to keep from blasting Sinister — a risk he couldn't take with Charlie there. "Put my daughter down," he spit out at last.

"As soon as you put your collar on," Essex replied. "You can even carry her out yourself," he added in a tone that suggested this was a magnanimous offer.

"She's not coming," Scott insisted through his teeth, taking a deep breath as he forced the control so he could open his eyes again to glare at Sinister. "I'll go — but she stays."

Sinister simply laughed to himself. "If you think we can't subdue you — that _I_ can't subdue you … Scott." He shook his head slowly, as if he was dealing with a willful child. "You have no fotting to make any demands. I'm trying to give you a choice. You can carry her, or I will. But both of you are coming with me, or I'll start by killing her worthless twin."

The villain didn't even look over at Chance, who was still blissfully asleep, curled up into the Marauder's with one little hand clutching onto the Marauder's shirt.

" _Don't you touch him_ ," Scott all but hissed out, nearly trembling with rage. He had his hands clenched in fists so tight he had drawn blood, the evidence of which showed when he finally reached out a hand. "Let me... I'll carry her," he said in what was barely a whisper, his voice shaking with both rage and defeat.

But instead of Charlie, one of the Marauders slapped down a cold, metal collar in his hand.

For a moment, Scott seemed to clench his jaw a bit harder before he let out a breath and snapped the collar on, looking almost pained to do so. When he looked up and met Sinister's gaze, the villain gave him a satisfied smile as he crossed the gap to hand Charlie over — as promised.

The little girl was still sleepy and slightly terrified, and it was just about all Scott could do to tuck her into his chest and try very hard to relax enough to properly console her - though that was hard to do with Annie and Chance on the floor of the entryway and Kate and K being carried out behind him. He couldn't tell her it would all be okay, but—

"I got you," he promised Charlie, very quietly, as she snuggled into his shirt..

* * *

The fight in Australia had been a lot less exciting than Laura had made it sound, and by the time the team had cleaned out the last of the Weapon X soldiers, Logan was clearly pissed off — though coated in a bit of blood.

Laura looked upset too, though not for the same reasons — mostly for the fact that she'd called the team down too late, and the real action had mostly passed by the time they arrived. "If I had called an hour earlier, you would have had a rescue, not clean up duty," she muttered.

"Stop," Logan grumbled. "You could have handled it on your own."

She glared down at the ground for a second. "Thanks for coming anyway," she said in a tone that had no gratitude in it at all.

"Are you still mad?" Logan asked with a frown as he turned to face the sulking girl a bit better.

She crossed her arms for a second and gave him a small glare. "Little bit, yeah. Who fails to invite their own kid to a wedding?"

"Wasn't my job," Logan said with a noncommittal shrug. "We were trying to just elope, and the way I heard it, you had your own things going on."

She just shrugged back at him. "Yeah, well, whatever. Thanks for flying out for clean-up," she said half-sullenly, her arms crossed as she made her way back to where the older Logan was still unconscious and healing after the Weapon X team had more or less torn him apart, her expression softening the slightest bit on seeing the man who had done what Logan had offered and she had refused to accept until _after_ he'd 'died' — adopt her as his own, more or less — in such a state.

"Not sure what you want me to say here," Logan rumbled as he came to a stop in front of her. "I figured you got your own life and want to live it."

She let out a small noise of disbelief before she shrugged up to her ears. "Well, I will try not to bother you then."

"If you want to come by, come by. Didn't seem like you much liked K last time you were by anyway," Logan pointed out. "Didn't think you were the jealous type," he teased her, smirking the slightest.

"She… was not what I was expecting," Laura admitted at last, though it was clear that wasn't everything she had to say on the matter.

Logan took a seat across from her, cross-legged on the ground. "Yeah? What were you expecting?"

"Not her," Laura said, hedging slightly. "She is not like the others. Which, I guess, is the point."

"Let's not get started throwin' stones here," Logan said gruffly. "Cyclops _and_ Angel?"

"Hey." She almost smirked at him.

"I know you thought I was dead, but still. No reason to desecrate my memory."

"To be fair — they are much nicer younger," she pointed out, now in a full on smirk.

"You … are just wrong."

"I have _met_ with the older Angel recently? I am very right," she countered.

"The older Angel has been through Apocalypse and a load of other garbage. I knew him the first time around when he was young. Not … as young as the one you're trying to suck the feathers off of ... but he's always been an ass."

At that, she broke into an honest grin that smacked of trouble. "To you maybe."

"Well I suppose if he wanted to crawl into my pants before, there would have been a whole different kind of argument," he chuckled.

"Must just be you are not his type," she teased.

"Or he's jealous that I can grow a decent beard," Logan countered. "Wonder what he'll do when you do too?"

"I will _not_ ," she said, shaking her head hard.

But he responded by raising an eyebrow at her and tipping his head to the side a bit. "Never know. They've been saying you're a _clone_... if that's true …"

"If that were true, I think I would have different parts," she pointed out with a small smirk, gesturing down at herself.

"That's what I've been sayin'," Logan agreed. "And blue eyes."

"Some people just do not understand genetics," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "I have _seen_ actual clones. There is a difference between them and other…" She paused and let the disdain cross her expression. "...experimental creations."

He gave her a little smirk and nodded his head. "Come by if you want. I'll give a call if I'm around here again. Daken's been popping in pretty regularly."

She looked honestly surprised at that before she recovered herself and nodded. "Next time I'm in the States," she said.

"Oh, and quit calling yourself Wolverine if you're gonna keep sucking feathers off of Worthington. It's not dignified."

"What are you going to do if I do not stop?" she asked with a teasing grin. "Come down here?"

"Doesn't matter, really," he countered. "They know where I am. Probably why they sent the junior team after you two."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I think I would like to find my own path," she said finally. "I tried to do things as I thought you would, and I do not think that …." She paused, her expression contorted into something like confusion. "I was not wrong in attempting to do what I did. But it is not _me._ "

"That's what I was trying to tell you before," Logan replied, before he pulled her into a one armed hug that ended with her giving him an honest, tight one that lasted a good long while. "Try not to let the old man over there break anything, candy striper."

"Which old man?" she shot back with a grin.

"I've got _my_ candy striper at home," he replied as he ruffled her hair.

She just laughed at that and waved him off as she went to go check on the older Logan, though it had only been a moment's peace for Logan before Noh was there to grab his attention with a small frown.

"An alert was tripped at the mansion," he explained in a low tone. "Nothing too serious — it was just a perimeter sensor… but usually Scott and I check in with each other once we've checked it out, and it's been some time."

"He's not answering your call?" Logan asked, looking concerned.

Noh shook his head. "No one at home is answering — though with it being so late, and the alarm being such a minor one… I am trying to exercise a bit of optimism and hope he is simply with his family." He pushed a hand through his hair. "But still, I am worried — especially given who we were sent here to fight."

"No, if there was an alarm, Scott would have answered," Logan said before he let out a shrill whistle to catch the attention of the rest of their crew. "Time to go!"

There were very few arguments there, since it had already been late when they left home, and it was clear the team was ready to go back and get to bed. So, it took very little time to load everyone up in the jet and take off for home.

But it was clear watching Logan that taking the jet just wasn't going to hack it, and he slipped over to where Kurt was with his fists clenched. "Hey Elf, we need a quicker route; my knuckles are itching," Logan said with a little growl.

Kurt nodded his agreement, his own tail twitching behind him at the idea of problems back home. "And if there's trouble…" he said, trailing off before he clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder, and the two reappeared an instant later, the bamfs in tow, in the middle of the upstairs hallway.

They split up — Kurt down one way and Logan down the other. Kurt rushed down the hallway of the teachers' quarters, while the bamfs teleported down to places like the Danger Room and the War Room — places that the girls might hide if something truly disastrous was upon them. Kurt wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not that he didn't see anything in his quick search of the first several rooms, though when he turned back to see how Logan was faring, he knew that Logan had spotted trouble by the way he was standing. Perfectly still. Staring toward the door to his room. Kurt could see now that he stepped a bit closer that the door was more or less destroyed, and knowing that Kate had been there too… Kurt felt his mouth go dry.

"Find Scott!" Logan called out before he stepped into the room.

Kurt didn't hesitate to simply start teleporting around the mansion in search of Scott wherever the bamfs hadn't already looked — though he had to admit to falling into serious concern when he first checked Scott and Annie's room and found that not only was Scott not there but neither was Annie or either of the twins. He checked several places before he ended up in the entryway to find only half of the Summers family still laid out on the floor there.

Alarmed, Kurt rushed to rouse Annie, pulling Chance into his arms as well so the little boy wasn't simply sleeping on the floor. "Are you okay, little one?" he whispered out, but Chance simply sleepily smiled up at him and patted Kurt's cheek with one pudgy hand before he started to drift back to sleep. He let out a breath, relieved that at least _someone_ was alright, but when Annie finally stirred awake, it was obvious there simply wasn't much she could give Kurt.

"What happened?" he asked anxiously as soon as she looked halfway awake.

"I don't know," she admitted, leaning against him to steady herself; she seemed to still be blinking back sleep. "I was reading to the twins, and there was some smoke… I tried to get out, but the door was blocked…" She held her head with one hand for a moment before her gaze found Chance, and she looked relieved for only a moment before she realized she couldn't see Scott or Charlie. "Where is everyone else? Where's _Charlie_?"

"I don't know," Kurt admitted. "But we're working on that right now," he added quickly when she looked distressed at that.

"Scott was outside when it happened," she told him, starting to get a little more of her strength back as she sat up and held her arms out to take Chance. " _Please_ — see if you can find him, _and find Charlie_." She said that last part urgently, her gaze still sweeping the entryway as if she expected to see her little girl simply appear out of nowhere at any moment. It was obvious she was panicking, her eyes wide and already welling up with tears as she clutched onto the still sleepy little boy in her arms like he was her lifeline.

Kurt nodded. "I will do what I can," he promised, one hand on the small of her back to support her as he watched her, keenly aware of the panic and frustration she was feeling since his own family was missing. "The bamfs are searching the entire mansion. If she or any of the others are still home, we will know shortly. In the meantime, can you remember anything else?"

But Annie just shook her head and started to very quietly cry — and Kurt couldn't go anywhere for some time after that as she simply leaned against his arm and let it out, obviously terrified and devastated.

A short time later, Logan passed the three of them, not looking at anything as he headed down to the surveillance room with a low, rumbling growl cutting the air around him.

Kurt looked up on seeing his best friend and finally extricated himself from Annie's grip. "Logan, _was ist los_?"

But Logan shook his head and stepped into the room that held all of the security measures for the house and started going through the surveillance. Kurt came to stand next to him, peeking over his shoulder as Logan brought up one camera and then another until he swore roughly under his breath and seemed to be shaking in rage.

It was all there for them to watch. Scott going to investigate the alarm, the Marauders using his absence to sneak inside and gas the remaining residents…. The hall camera upstairs caught snippets of the fight the girls had to keep away from the Marauders, but that was a quickly sealed mystery when they watched as the monstrous men carried their wives out of the room — unconscious and limp — which had Kurt growling low as well.

Annie had pulled herself together to follow the sounds of the angry growls just in time to watch the show as Sinister pulled his little hat trick on Scott. By the time it was over, Annie was horrified, Kurt was murderous — and Logan was very clearly doing everything he could to keep from starting to destroy everything in sight. He pushed back from the screen and took off at a run to where Sinister and his men had disappeared, knowing full well that any scent trail he found would either vanish into thin air or disappear at the road, but still — he had to try something.

"Take Chance back to your room," Kurt advised through gritted teeth as he turned toward Annie. "When Logan gets back, he won't be happy if he hasn't found something to work with, and I don't want to alarm the little one." He barely had the words out before he'd teleported back to Logan's room to see the damage for himself, then to the computer room for some quick information — and then out to the edges of the road to try and see if he could find anything as well, fruitless though the search might be.

When he got there, Logan was nearly frantic in his search, wide-eyed and obviously out of leads already. He stood there, three hundred yards from the gate, just staring down the road, first one way and then the other, as if he was trying to will a sign out of thin air.

"There is nothing?" Kurt asked, mostly to try and draw Logan's attention to something solid but partly because he couldn't hide his own disappointment either. When Logan continued to stare ahead, Kurt put a hand on his arm. "We'll find them," he promised fiercely. "Perhaps the others can find some trace of them at the mansion when they arrive. And we can work with what little we have. Scott and Jubilee have been cataloguing Marauder sightings to search for patterns." It was the only thing he could think of that they could do outside of calling for help from everyone they knew — which they would definitely be doing regardless if they couldn't find their wives and Scott and Charlie by the night's end.

"There was no vehicle," Logan said quietly, finally breaking his silence, though the growl didn't quite stop.

At that, Kurt's expression turned a bit hard. "He must have teleported, then," he said simply, though his tone made it clear that he was more than a little upset at the gift Sinister had stolen from him being used against their family and friends.

"Let's start on that list," Logan said with a glare, and Kurt didn't hesitate before he produced the list — which he had already printed — and teleported them to the first location.


	12. Angry Babies

***A/N: Well, we talked long and hard about how to handle the question of Laura. Obviously, she's not going to be a major force in this story, and we're more than happy to let her do her own thing. But she does exist. Surprise! :P**

 **And yes, we would also love for Sinister to stay away. But...**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: "Angry Babies"**

The very first sensation that Kate had when she woke up was that something was _horribly cold_ and it was on her stomach — and she was half-convinced it was the bamfs trying to wake her up with a cold compress or something after whatever had gone down at the mansion before she woke up enough to realize that not only was it cold but also slimy and wet.

She opened her eyes and shuddered as she very quickly realized that this was not somewhere she wanted to be when she saw the stone walls of an old basement and then looked down the length of her body to see that _Sinister_ was standing there with a mildly interested look on his face as he was running a _futzing ultrasound_ and _this was not okay._

She couldn't sit up to give him a proper glare, she realized when her shoulders hit the tight metal holding her in place, but even restrained, she picked her head up as much as she could to make sure he could see just how pissed off she was as she bit out, "I'm going to feed you those hands in a second."

She didn't get much of a response from the creep except a look of mild amusement, but she did hear Scott call out, "I'll help you do it, too," and she looked over to see that Scott was there too — not tied down to a table like she was, though.

He was holding Charlie close to his chest and watching from the other side of the bars of a cell with an expression of near murder. He was collared, and Charlie was poking at the blinking lights there — so at least for the moment, the youngest captive wasn't freaking out. But that was the only good thing about their situation, Kate realized, when she saw that K was in a similar cell not far from Scott, tied and… she was muzzled, more or less.

"Gonna have a hard time feeding him when I make him wear that thing," Kate all but growled out, tipping her head toward the unconscious K as best she could to indicate the muzzle, just trying to focus on anything but the fact that there was a creep running a _futzing ultrasound on her_.

"I'm sure you can come up with other places to put them," Scott said through gritted teeth. Kate was a bit surprised that he was encouraging her like that, though she shouldn't have been, knowing the problems that he had with Sinister.

"I'll bet you have ideas," Kate called back, trying very hard to paint on a smirk that screamed murder as much as she wanted it to, though she was temporarily derailed when Sinister's equipment picked up a heartbeat, and she … stopped.

"Oh." She went sort of still and quiet as she listened to that little sound, her every resolve to hate Sinister with every fiber of her being melting for just the slightest moment. She'd never heard the heartbeat for herself… she couldn't help smiling... before reality came back with a punch to remind her just where she was when she thought that it wasn't fair for Kurt not to be there. She very nearly started to cry as the injustice of it all washed over her. That combined with the fact that she was already a little emotional anyway, considering her current state, had her barely controlling her trembling bottom lip — until Scott broke in with his suggestions for just where to put Sinister's hands if they weren't going to feed them to him.

It was actually incredibly helpful to have Scott there bouncing ideas back and forth on different ways she could make Sinister eat his own hands and basically regret his every life decision, because if Kate had been alone and had to listen to Sinister's little comments on how "interesting" the beginnings of the prehensile tail formation were or how "the fetus is the proper size for this stage of development," she might have started just swearing incomprehensibly. Or crying. She seemed to be bouncing back and forth between the two options in her head at the moment.

But when Sinister had finished making notations, he seemed completely unfazed — or simply amused — at the increasingly creative suggestions Kate and Scott were sharing, even going so far as to unceremoniously pitch Kate in with Scott with the slightest smirk and suggestion that they "continue to amuse themselves" as Sinister headed for K to set her up for an ultrasound as well.

Before he started, though, he was sure to siphon off some of K's blood, and he tutted audibly and shook his head as he looked almost disappointed Scott's way. "And here I thought you claimed to value your team members — but this is simply shoddy negligence. Must I do everything for you, my boy?" he sneered as he looked over the level of adamantium poisoning in K's blood. "You needed only to make sure she was eating," he complained. "How hard could that possibly be?" He shook his head to himself as he tied K down before he started up the same process that he did with Kate — only K was a bit slower to rouse, and the scan took a bit more time.

The other two were stuck listening to his obnoxious commentary as he complained about the baby's size — too small. He complained about Weapon X's shortsightedness when it came to the sloppy job they'd done with the adamantium bonding, though he came to the same conclusion that Hank had — even if he'd phrased it differently. He'd have to do surgery if he wanted to keep 'studying' the baby.

Then, after all that, he let out a disappointed breath and allowed his shoulders to visibly slump. "I'm not sure if I should be angry or not," he mused as he looked down at the little feral. "A boy would be much stronger, but I suppose I'll have to make do. She should be easier to control if I start this early."

"You _clearly_ don't understand women, you futzing creep," Kate snarled under her breath when she noticed that Scott had gone so livid he couldn't even speak — and was holding Charlie just a little tighter until Charlie pushed against him with a little mumbled "Daddy, down," which finally got Scott to stop glaring Sinister's way long enough to let out a breath and turn his attention to the little girl in his arms.

"Not right now, sweetheart," he told her at a low whisper, and she complained and fussed about it for a while until it was clear her dad wasn't going to give her what she wanted and she simply settled into a deep glare, not at all happy with the situation.

"Want brudder," she muttered at last, looking around for the twin that wasn't there.

"I know," Scott said in that same low whisper. "I know, Charlie. We'll go see him soon, okay?"

Charlie frowned up at Scott for a little while before she nodded and snuggled into Scott, clearly catching onto how upset Scott was when she was all but petting the side of his face. "No sad, Daddy," she told him until, despite everything, he couldn't help but kiss her forehead and pull her tight.

* * *

Kurt and Logan had been gone for days chasing down every single one of the possible Marauder leads, even the barest hints of rumors, before they finally trudged back into the mansion together — only to head right for the computer room to see if there were any more leads to follow. They weren't surprised to see Jubilee there working feverishly to find _something_ for them to work with — but they were surprised to see that Jessica Drew was there with her.

"You two have anything yet?" Logan asked, looking like hell, unshaven, dirty and bloodied, a deep scowl on his features and a growl acting almost like an undertone to his voice.

"If we did, you'd have it in your hands right now," Jess pointed out, looking Logan over with a critical eye. "When's the last time you ate? Either of you?"

He made a little irritated noise and waved her off. "I need a place to go, give me something to do."

"Go to the kitchen and make sure Kurt eats something before he passes out if you're not going to take care of yourself at least," Jess said, matching his irritated tone with her arms crossed.

"I'm _fine_. We need to keep moving," Kurt insisted, though that got him the _look_ from Jubilee too.

She wrinkled her nose and shook her head at them. "Oh my God. You two stink," Jubilee said. "You need to go hose off. Outside maybe."

"That … alright. That's probably a fair point," Logan said as he looked at his hands with an expression that said he simply hadn't done that in quite some time. "But when I get back from the showers, you girls better have something for me."

"We'll find something for you to do," Jess promised mildly.

But when Kurt and Logan returned, the girls had nothing for them except the suggestion to eat — this time offered to Kurt, quietly, by Jubilee, who was unmistakably giving Kurt the _I'm worried about my Wolvie_ face that got him to finally cave.

"We've got everyone working on this," Jubilee said quietly. "Everyone. Laura was crushed when she heard that her attack was a diversion - and she's been tearing through Asia for you guys."

Kurt ran both hands over his face for a moment before he let out a sigh and turned to put his hand on Logan's arm. "I do think… I might need some supper before we can continue at this pace."

Logan gave his a look along with a little sigh before he glanced around the room and half-rolled his eyes. "Fine. But we're leaving right after."

"Agreed," Kurt said without hesitation, though that earned him a death glare from both girls in the room. But the truth of the matter was that, while he was at least going to take care of his best friend, his _wife_ and his _unborn child_ were with Sinister. Not to mention Logan's wife and their baby — and Scott and the cute little curly-haired Charlie.

No amount of glares from the girl was going to slow him down.

When they arrived in the kitchen, however, there was a little more activity than they were probably prepared for. Annie was clearly stress baking, and Clint and Natasha were trying very hard to keep Gerry and Chance out of her way as the little boys ran around the room trying to whack each other with little plastic spoons.

The boys skidded to a stop on seeing Logan and Kurt though, and Gerry looked downright concerned as he stuck out his lower lip and put both hands on his hips. "What happen?" he asked, eyeing them both. "You okay?"

Logan stepped around the boys on his way to grab a drink as Kurt knelt down to talk to them. "We're … alright, yes," Kurt said, though his expression read differently. "And you? Have you been good?"

Gerry nodded very seriously and held his hands up for Kurt to pick him up so he could be closer to him. "Daddy said Chance is sad," he whispered like a secret. "So I play."

At that, Kurt looked over at Chance, who was watching the whole interaction with slightly wide eyes, his head tipped to one side. "Sissy?" he finally asked — and it was hard to ignore the almost pleading, hopeful tone.

"Logan and I are trying to find her," Kurt promised around the lump in his throat.

But Chance just pushed out his lower lip and looked around Kurt like he might be hiding Charlie somewhere. "Sissy?" he called out a couple times, then seemed to get more upset about it now that it was clear Charlie wasn't with Kurt or Logan. "Want sissy. Want daddy!" He stamped his foot and crossed his arms.

Annie let out a little sigh as she swept over to pick Chance up and try to shush him a bit. "I know, honey — they're not here right now, okay?" she whispered to him, though he only got more annoyed and more insistent.

"Want da-a-a-a-ad," he whined very loudly, trying to wriggle out of her grasp, while the other occupants of the kitchen didn't know what to tell him. There _wasn't_ anything that they could say, not anything that a one-year-old would understand — not when the adults in the room could hardly deal with it themselves.

"Chance is sad," Gerry told Kurt seriously, almost hiding under Kurt's arm as the younger boy started to get upset in earnest, asking for 'sissy' and 'daddy' multiple times until he finally started to fall into little sniffles, wriggling and screaming a few times and looking completely dejected.

Chance looked around the room for a second, still sniffling and with his little lip quivering, until his gaze found Logan and he pointed that way. "Want Wogan," he said, practically pouting now.

"No you don't," Logan argued.

"Want Wogan!" Chance said, crossing his arms and giving Logan a very Summers-esque glare.

But again Logan shook his head and looked over at Kurt. "You going to eat, or should we just grab something on the way?"

Kurt still had Gerry half clinging onto him as he one-handedly tried to grab something to eat. "I think real food would be better for a change," he said quietly, barely heard over Chance's little sniffles as he finally got too squirmy for Annie and she set him down.

He went right over to Logan, of course, and started to pull on his pants leg, grabbing handfuls of fabric in both fists with wide eyes. "Up, Wogan. Want Wogan," he said insistently, until when Logan looked down at him, he gave Logan the widest-eyed look he could with a very drawn-out "pweeaaase."

Logan let out a sigh and simply scooped him up, not trying to hold him like Annie had, instead clutching him to his chest and snuggling right into the little guy with one hand over his head to curl him in tightly. Chance of course, melted into him and soon quit sniffling, though he was almost petting the side of Logan's head.

Annie turned to face Logan a bit better and let out a sigh. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, her own weariness and worry evident in her body language and tone — which meant it had been long enough that even her constant force of positivity was taking a hit. "He's… taking this hard."

"S'fine," Logan rumbled as he walked quietly out of the kitchen and over to a big cushy chair to let Chance snuggle in on him.

"I take it we're not rushing right out?" Kurt said with a little smirk that he couldn't control. After all, despite everything, Kurt couldn't help but smile seeing his friend with the little boy who so obviously adored him.

Kurt wasn't surprised in the least when Logan let out a bit of a disappointed sigh and haltingly shook his head then snuggled in all that much deeper when little Chance muttered, "Miss evvyone," and let out a little hitched sound, clearly not done being upset but doing much better with at least one person he'd "missed" around.

* * *

Charlie was in absolute hysterics.

She was screaming and crying and flat-out _refusing_ to settle down — and demanding things from Sinister. The pale creep seemed annoyed by her antics, considering she had decided to melt down halfway through his examination of her —but whatever hissed words he had for her were completely drowned out by her loud screaming.

Her demands had started out with the usual "no, no, no, no, no" and "go 'way" and had, by the time Sinister had finished with what he was doing, progressed to demands for specific people after "wanna go home" got no response. "Want brudder" got her nowhere, and so did demands for "mama" and "Wogan," and she was in full meltdown mode as she looked around for someone who wasn't Scott or Kate, who had been trying their best to take care of her for the past several days — so she had been more or less stuck with only the two of them as options for far too long, apparently.

Finally, Charlie spotted K, and she got even louder and more insistent when she saw the little feral tucked into the corner of her own separate cell apart from anything and everyone. "WANT K!" she bellowed as loud as her little lungs could manage, repeating the demand over and over again as she continued her meltdown.

But that was apparently one demand too far for Sinister, who fixed Charlie with a _look_ as he all but hissed, "Be still, little one," and she quieted down so fast that Scott, pinned down to an examination table nearby, simply started to swear up a blue streak — not bothering to censor himself like he'd been trying to do in front of Charlie when Sinister was messing with his little girl.

Sinister set Charlie down in the cell with Kate, and Kate snatched up the now-quiet little girl, brushing her curly hair with her fingers and kissing her forehead and trying to get a response out of the little girl until, finally, Charlie let out a little hitched sort of sound, looked around her, and then all but melted in Kate's chest, hooking her arms around Kate's neck in the process.

Kate held Charlie tight, one hand on the back of her head, though her gaze had gone to Scott, who was locked onto the two of them with a look of pure concern and even devastation. It was obvious that he had hoped they would be out of here by now, and Kate could see the gears turning in his mind as he watched Charlie and Kate.

It had been days. And Sinister wasn't letting them go.

Sinister could clearly see it, too, and he was practically smirking as he switched gears to focus on Scott now that Charlie was with Kate. "It's your own fault, really," Sinister said as he looked through his tools. "I _did_ tell you my studies were less intrusive before, but you would insist on getting in the way."

"You've got no _right_ to be studying _anyone_ ," Scott very nearly snarled out, though he was trying to keep from scaring Charlie.

"Of course I do," Sinister said in a tone that suggested he was dealing with an obstinate child - a lot like the one he had used before with Charlie.

"You're not above everyone else," he replied, glaring hard.

"You have no say in the matter," Sinister said simply, unbothered as he kept right on with what he was doing. With Scott, obviously, the focus was different - this was an opportunity to study his newfound control over his powers, longer-term than the quick updated studies he'd done before.

"Clearly, I should have more carefully considered that healer of yours," Sinister said with a satisfied sort of smile as he worked. "Perhaps next time I'll thank him; you never would have progressed without him." As he talked, he readjusted the way Scott was held down so that he was still bound but this time facing the wall. "Now then," he said, "let's see just how far you've come, shall we?"

"No."

Sinister let out a little chuckle and shook his head. "If you think I can't make you cooperate, you've lost your edge." He paused and then sneered Scott's way. "That waste of space you married has slowed you down."

"Guess there's no point in trying to study if I'm on a downhill slope. Missed your shot."

"Nothing we can't fix," Sinister said easily. "Start with a fine beam — as fine as you can."

"Go to hell."

Sinister shook his head. "Obstinate," he said softly before he reached out telepathically to force the beam so he could see for himself what kind of range Scott had. He was more interested in the fine control, since Scott had always been capable of the wide-range destruction without the visor, and he smirked that much more when he was able to produce a fine, low-power beam, starting out with something that barely dented the wall and gradually turning up the power until it was a directed beam, neatly carving a fine point of a hole in the wall.

Scott was clearly still livid, but his more vocal protests died out, he was both stunned at the precision and power of the fine beam, but angry with solid reason that Sinister had a better handle on it than he did. He just hadn't even considered trying for something so … small.

Sinister let out a little chuckle. "You can try for yourself, my boy," he said in what would have been an encouraging tone if he wasn't so smug as he rested one hand on Scott's shoulder.

But when it was clear Scott was too livid — and too shocked — to speak, the silence was broken not by either of the two men in the room but by the sound of an old-fashioned baby rattle bouncing off of Sinister's head.

"Ten points, right, Charlie?" Kate crowed, bouncing the little girl in her arms.

"Fifty if you hit the diamond," Scott said under his breath.

Kate grinned at him. "Next time he turns this way," she promised. "We'll play Nail the Creep, right, Charlie?"

Charlie stared up at Kate and then giggled. "Cweep," she repeated, giggling outright when that earned her a tickle and a kiss.

But Sinister looked completely unamused as he glared the girls' way, the red glow a bit more pronounced before he reached out a hand and, a moment later, Kate simply slumped, and the room fell into silence once more — for only a moment, before Charlie started to scream her displeasure.


	13. Getting Desperate

**(A/N): Yeah, Sinister deserves everything he's going to get. A thousand times over. We just can't promise he's going to get it all NOW... though... there are plans... you'll see in this chapter :P**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: "Getting Desperate"**

* * *

It had been two weeks since Logan had gone out in search of K and the others — this time not with Kurt but with Cap, while Kurt had gone to Germany with Clint and Natasha to run down a few tenuous leads from their underground contacts.

At that point, it was no longer a question of who was helping when any hero, X-Man, Avenger, or otherwise, was out assisting anywhere _but_ the mansion. Even solo heroes and others were getting involved as the missing X-Men were approaching the three-week mark and it was clear that they still weren't getting anywhere closer to finding them.

Kurt's group had been home for all of the few hours it took to shower and get a good, warm meal in their stomachs when they were all feeling too discouraged to work up much of an appetite when Logan and Steve returned from Argentina earlier than expected.

Steve was carrying Logan in, fireman style, and simply deposited his old friend in the nearest seat with a long and weary sigh. "Exhaustion," he said in answer to Kurt's unasked question. "Just kept going until he lost his balance and fell down the side of a mountain."

Kurt raised both eyebrows high, and though he thought he'd run out of the limits of his worry, he found he had a little more as he asked, "He fell down a _mountain_?"

"Took me the better part of a day just to climb down to him," Steve said, shaking his head.

Kurt let out a breath. "I should have been there," he muttered. "Germany yielded no results, and I would have been able to get to him faster."

"You can't be everywhere at once, Kurt," Steve said reasonably.

"I very nearly can," Kurt countered. "If I do it right — if I am fast enough."

"Even with your abilities, this was likely going to happen anyhow," Steve replied. "You know him as well as I do, and you know he wasn't going to stop until he physically couldn't go any further." He let out a breath. "In fact, I'm probably going to get chewed out when he wakes up again and realizes I pulled him out of the jungle."

"I was honestly hoping we would have found them before we reached this point," Kurt said as he looked toward his best friend with his ears so obviously drooping that little Chance crawled right up into his lap to give him a very concerned-looking hug.

"We'll find them," Cassie promised across the table with all the resolve of a still very young hero. "Billy said he and Strange are working on a lead. He said it's a long shot, but…" She shrugged and let out a breath. "I think they're all long shots at this point."

"Sounds like it's better than what we've got right now," Steve said with a nod.

But Steve very quickly regretted his words when he saw exactly _what_ Strange's plan was. The Sorcerer Supreme strolled in the front door of the mansion with none other than Azazel behind him — all but hogtied in magical restraints. And with them both, Billy looked like he was watching the demon for the slightest of twitches to zap him one for blinking too long.

Kurt was on his feet in an instant. "What is _he_ doing here?" he half snarled out. " _Hast du den Verstand verloren_?"

"We have run out of options," Strange replied. "And he has a direct route to your wife. I think we can use it to our benefit for a change."

"You want to send him to Kate," Kurt said in a disbelieving tone.

"I want him to _take us_ to Kate," Strange clarified. "Those are two very different things."

Azazel was watching the interaction with an expression somewhere between amusement and annoyance. "Lost something, have we?" he asked in a disinterested tone. "Really, my boy, you must take better care of your things."

Strange turned toward him for a moment with a curious expression on his face. "I believe I may have a way to put him in _permanent_ stasis if he refuses to cooperate," Strange said. "It's something I've discovered quite recently. And I'm sure that Mr. Stark would be happy to contribute what little we would need to contain him after the statis takes effect. Encase him in a magic-proof _vessel_."

"That sounds like an excellent idea to me," Kurt said with a glare his father's way as Azazel chuckled, clearly more amused by the threats than anything else.

"I admire the sentiment, but there's no need for threats," he said with a little smirk. "If you've lost my grandchild, I'd be happy to locate the girl." He just smirked a bit wider. "Clearly I need to take a more active interest. How long have you let this wait, my boy?"

"Can you take me to them or not?" Kurt growled out.

"If it's really such an urgent matter, I can go to them myself," Azazel replied. "Taking you or anyone else would require slightly more preparation."

"Then make your preparations," Kurt said with narrowed eyes. "It's not just Kate that is missing."

"Oh you have messed this up properly, then, haven't you?" Azazel almost sounded delighted.

"The man that has taken them is performing experiments on them," Kurt said frankly. "All of them."

All at once, Azazel's expression darkened, the amused look gone. For as important as it was to him to build up the next generation of his descendants, it was clear he couldn't let that threat stand — no matter how much he wanted to gloat over Kurt. "I will need the blood of anyone who wishes to make the journey," he said evenly. "The spell will reject them otherwise, and as much as I'd like to see certain members of your group spread across the dimensions… it seems you do need them for the time being."

"Billy," Steve said in a low undertone. "Why don't you give Logan a little boost? If we wait for him to heal on his own, it'll probably be another three or four days."

Billy looked over at the still-unconscious Logan and nodded the slightest bit, rolling up the edges of his sleeves as his eyes and hands started to glow. " _Fivedaysofhealing fivedaysofhealing fivedaysofhealing,"_ he chanted, overshooting the healing enough so he could be absolutely sure Logan would be up to snuff. But when Logan did wake up, that was it for Billy — he barely put his head on his crossed arms on the table in front of him before he was passed out, totally drained from the spell.

"What … who the hell let him in?" Logan rumbled as he slowly got to his feet, frowning not only at the people in the room but the fact that he was even back at the mansion.

"Believe it or not, I am here to help correct your gross negligence," Azazel replied.

"I don't believe it," Logan said dryly before he stopped and looked Azazel up and down carefully and smirked. "How's that new tail feel?" He pointed toward Azazel's head with his own tipped to the side a bit. "Looks like your ear's a bit crooked too."

"Restrain yourself, beast. I've not yet told my son just how much of your blood I require for the spell. Should I overestimate or underestimate, as the case may be, I believe you would find the results unpleasant."

"What the hell's he talkin' about, Elf?" Logan asked with a little frown.

Kurt was simply glaring at his father outright. "He has a direct link to Kate," he explained.

"So, by that school of thought, shouldn't Strange be able to use _his_ blood to find her? I can open up something important if you want it fast."

"If only that were so," Strange said with a distinct smirk on his face. "But thankfully for you, I do know how much of your blood he requires. There will be _no_ mistakes," he added, glaring Azazel's way.

Azazel smiled that much wider. "Certainly not," he said in a tone that no one believed. "Now, will you allow me to do my work? I do believe I have a grandchild to see."

* * *

Sinister had set up two trays — one close by, the other a bit out of reach — but the equipment on them that he was laying out was identical. It wasn't much, but the ultrasound machine pulled close to the incredibly long and fat-looking needle didn't exactly look very welcoming, and Kate found herself shrinking back a bit when she saw them, knowing she couldn't stop what was coming and feeling her mouth dry out with the frustrated helplessness.

"Who's going first?" Sinister asked as he looked between the two cells. K had been quietly tucked into her corner this entire time, clearly and completely shut down, so he couldn't possibly have been expecting her to say anything. And that just had Kate mad all over again watching him as he waited for an answer and pulled out a third set of tools — that looked a lot more intrusive. "No volunteers?"

"Why don't you go first?" Kate bit out his way. "I'm no doctor, but I can shove that needle someplace without any training whatsoever."

"It really works out better if it is you," Sinister said with a smirk. "I'll be quick, and you'll be back in that cell before you know it." He looked toward where K was again crouched in the corner trying to be smaller. "The other procedure might end up going long, and I'd hate to leave you waiting."

"Bite me," Kate all but snarled — though that was really all she could do against him.

The gem at the center of his forehead glowed with his eyes for a moment before all the occupants of the cell were frozen into place. A bit of telekinesis later, Kate found herself strapped down tight as Sinister made his final preparations — and held the device for the ultrasound in one hand and the obscenely large needle and syringe in the other. He pricked her stomach with the end of the needle, and when it was apparent his numbing agent had worked, he blocked her out and went to work.

The whole procedure took less than fifteen minutes, and when it was done, he had a bit of yellowish fluid in the syringe. He looked over at Scott and grinned as he once more froze Kate into place and returned her to her cell. "I'm sure you recall how to handle this. She'll need someone to watch her." He didn't wait to see if Scott was, in fact, looking out for Kate — sure that he would, since that had been the case for both of them, caring for each other when they had their turn on Sinister's table, and instead set his sample aside and then moved around the trays so that he could do the same procedure with K — though it wasn't entirely apparent to Kate why he'd need to do this test so late in the game on her when he'd been stealing her regularly.

"What… is he doing?" Kate asked, hesitantly, glancing up at Scott's locked jaw and almost not sure she wanted to know the answer — but Sinister _had_ addressed Scott like he understood this part.

"For you? Likely a barrage of genetic tests," Scott said quietly. "For her? Probably looking to see how well the baby's lung development is going." He said the last part through his teeth. "It would explain the rest of the tools he has over there anyhow."

"O… kay." Kate tried to tip her head back to look at Scott better. "What do you know about the other tool set, boss man? Because now I'm more creeped than usual."

"I'm pretty sure that if everything looks _good_ , that's .. for surgery. Which, we don't really want to be around for. Considering her abilities."

At that, Kate turned very pale. "Oh," she said simply and steadfastly didn't look K's way.

The big needle didn't go nearly so easy for K, and Sinister ended up having to freeze her in place, since the numbing agent simply burned out of her system too quickly to be useful, and it clearly did not feel very good. When he had his second sample, he simply left K there on the table and headed off into a different room leaving the little group to stare and wait.

"Screw this," Kate muttered under her breath after a moment, using Scott's shoulder to push herself to her feet before she made her way over to the door of the cell and resumed the work she'd been doing in every spare moment when Sinister or his Marauders weren't watching — trying to pick the thing — which was hard when it kept getting locked and re-locked, but she was making progress, she was pretty sure. "He doesn't get to meet _my_ niece before Kurt meets his goddaughter. Just no."

Scott had half an eye on Charlie, who was sleeping fitfully in the corner, before he nodded. "Sooner would be better than later, Hawkeye. I think our schedule just got tighter," he said, tipping his head toward the third set of Sinister's tools as Kate swore under her breath.

"I know," she muttered to herself as much as Scott. And maybe it was the pressure of the timeline or maybe it was that she'd been working on it for so long, but finally — _finally_ — she felt that little click of the lock turning, and she let out a little "yes!" and punched the air with her fist as the door swung open.

In a second, both Scott and Kate were out of the cell and ready to go as Kate ran right to K to see if she could get the restraints around her hands undone — she really only needed to get one hand free so K could use the claws, and everything after that was simply a matter of how fast K could slice through the rest. Scott, on the other hand, was already headed for the door.

"I'll scout an escape route," he said. "You make sure K and Charlie get out safe — and follow me once I come back. I'll try to take down any Marauders in our path, but those two — we've got to get them out _now_."

"No arguments here," Kate agreed quickly.

But it wasn't until Scott was already partway down the hall that K even turned her head Kate's direction to see what kind of progress she was making. "I think that's more complex than the door," she said quietly.

"Yeah, but it feels kinda similar," Kate muttered through her teeth. "Pick's finding sort of the same paths."

K turned back toward the ceiling and tipped her head as far as she could to one side before she closed her eyes and listened. "Not much time. You'd be smart to grab Charlie and go."

"How much time is not much? Because seriously, I think I almost got this," Kate replied, though it was clear she was considering it. It would be one thing if it was just her and Scott, but with Charlie involved as well...

"I don't know the layout of this place, but they're starting to head back this way," K said softly. "Heavy footsteps …coming the reverse of the path that they used when they left."

Kate looked very clearly torn for a long moment as she worked a bit more feverishly. "Not gonna let him kill you, K," she muttered out at last. "That's just not happening."

K didn't respond right away but to let her head rest on the table again. "You need to go."

Kate tried one last time to pick the lock before she very quietly swore in both English and German — she had quite a collection of German swear words by that point — under her breath. "Okay. Okay. Alright… fine — but I'm coming back with an army of X-Men as soon as I find a phone to call Kurt to get them here," she finally relented.

But she must have waited a hair too long, because she had taken all of three steps back to grab Charlie and run when the door burst open. Sinister took in the scene with his already glowing gaze, which intensified into a fury as he realized what was happening.

In a blink, Sinister sent a blast at Kate that tagged her in the shoulder and spun her backward into the cell, which he telekinetically pulled shut and locked before he directed his Marauders after Scott with a wave. "Don't kill him," was the only order he gave before he made his way over to apparently put K back in her cell, though Kate couldn't tell if K was even trying to fight back at this point. Sinister looked irritated, but he didn't address the escape attempt in any way, seemingly going right back to his focus on his 'work' and deciding it would be more intimidating to both women to simply tell them what he had in mind.

"I'm sure you realized that there was no need to run a test for the X-gene for you, Mrs. Wagner," Sinister said. "However, I've been curious to see what, if any, other physical mutations make their presence known down the line. For example, we know that the child your friend is carrying will be a feral — no doubt about it, considering the limited possibilities with the gene pool and thin bone claws already developing. Just as there's no doubt about your daughter when you take into consideration her tail, of course. But that doesn't mean that's the extent of things in the possibilities of mutations."

Kate was glaring at him hard and trying her best not to betray the surprise and, frankly, tiny bit of excitement at the casual news she was having a _girl_ with a tiny _tail_ — but he didn't deserve to know any of that. _Any of it_. So she glared even harder. "It's none of your futzing business," she said low, which was a pretty standard response at this point when she'd just… run out of ways to get mad at him.

"You're mistaken, young lady. It is, in fact my business," he replied as Scott's shouts could be heard echoing the halls — apparently, the Marauders had caught up. "So willful."

Kate glared and crossed her arms as Charlie started to wake up on hearing her dad. They couldn't see what happened, but they could hear it when the fight ended, and then the Marauders more or less dragged Scott back after doing a serious number on him for the fight he put up. Even without his powers it was obvious looking at some of the bloodied and bruised Marauders that Scott had made life miserable for them all the same.

Kate looked Scott's way for a second before she jutted her chin out at Sinister. "It's not. And just… _stay away_ from my daughter, you creep."

Sinister shook his head and directed his Marauders to lock up Scott and tie Kate's hands. As soon as the door had closed behind K, and Sinister had lifted his control, she'd retreated back to her corner, her back to her friends and again silent — leaving all four of them more or less in the same state as they'd started, albeit far more injured now.

Scott was battered and bruised and had a split lip that looked incredibly tender that Charlie couldn't ignore. "Oush, Daddy," she said quietly before she carefully gave him a tiny kiss on his boo boo. She then snuggled into his chest with her head under his chin and hugged him, lightly patting his chest with one pudgy hand.

…...

Translations from German:

 _Hast du den Verstand verloren_? - Have you lost your mind?


	14. Azazel v Sinister

**Notes - I know right? The little TAIL!**

 ***ahem* Right. Okay. Here's the chapter this has all been building up to...**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: "Azazel v. Sinister"**

* * *

Kate was still fuming over everything that had happened. Her hands were bound behind her back, threaded through the bars of the cell so she couldn't move, one of her best friends was totally shut down and curled up in a ball waiting for Sinister to literally cut her open, her team leader had been thoroughly worked over, and little Charlie Summers was the most comforting thing in the whole cell, which really should not have been the case, because she was too young to _have_ to do anything like that.

She was really working up a good pout when the room got cold — colder than usual, that is — and a familiar-looking vortex started to gather on the floor, rings of smoke spinning in concentric circles.

Kate let out a long, loud groan."This — this is just, like, the icing on the horrible evil cake," she grumbled, resting her forehead on her knees and resigned, at this point, to the fact that there was apparently a never-ending supply of creeps who wanted to work her over, and they were high-caliber enough creeps that she couldn't get _away_ from them, either.

But… her frustration and helplessness quickly turned into surprise when she realized that Azazel was coming through with a _passenger_.

And then there was Logan, his arm draped around Azazel's shoulder. And Kurt followed quickly after the two of them with Noh.

And Kate couldn't stop _staring_ at the group of them.

"Thanks for the lift, travel buddy," Logan half growled to Azazel before he looked over to see K curled up and still trying to be small. He called out her name and just made a beeline for her - slicing right through the bars to give himself room to get to her. She looked almost stunned to see him, but that didn't last long before she simply wrapped her arms around his neck and he clutched to her himself.

He was so relieved to see her that it took a moment for the anger to set in when he realized that her hands were locked away in what equated to metal gloves and she was wearin' a flamin' muzzle. He had to wait for her to take a breath before he could take a moment to remove both — though when he did, she was quick to kiss the daylights out of him.

Kurt, meanwhile, had to wait for Noh to tear off the bars to Scott and Kate's cell before he could rush to Kate and untie her hands and simply scoop her up to his chest for a long moment, muttering softly in both German and English how much he missed her as Noh helped Scott to his feet, careful of Charlie, who still refused to let go of her father.

Kate didn't even bother trying to act "brave" or anything stupid like that. Instead, she grabbed onto Kurt _hard_ , clutching him tightly and burying her face in his chest, a relieved little sob breaking through despite her best efforts, which only had Kurt pulling her tighter.

"I love you," Kurt whispered into her hair. "And I _will_ fix this."

Kate didn't even pick up her head as she nodded into his chest. "I missed you," she whispered softly. "Let's go home."

And while the group of X-Men were all reuniting — with even little Charlie getting in on the snuggles as she gave Noh a sloppy kiss on the cheek but still refused to let go of her dad — Azazel was simply taking in the setup, eyeing the instruments and the cells with obvious disdain. His gaze fell on Kate and in particular on the angry red burn on her shoulder, made even more obvious by the fact that the blast had shorn off the fabric there, before he simply let out a scoff and headed for the equipment to start to slice through it almost lazily. He was partway through the job when Sinister arrived to investigate the disturbance — and it was the fact that Sinister had teleported in that seemed to push Azazel's temper over the line of disdain into flat out _rage_.

He whirled to face the pale man with a snarl and with teeth bared. " _Where_ did you steal _my_ gift?" he asked, though he sounded as if he already knew the answer. "That is for me and mine — you have done nothing to deserve it."

"It's what he does," Logan supplied as he picked up K, who was still more than content just to hold him tightly. "Steals abilities from mutants to augment himself. Been doing it for decades."

Azazel's tail was switching behind him, and his response came in a language that none of them understood but which shook the walls around them. "I'll be taking that back, then," he declared with practically literal fire in his gaze.

"He'll just steal it back again," Scott said. His gaze was on Sinister as he made sure that Logan and K stepped out of the cell safely — though Charlie was latched on to him — but with the team arriving for backup, he seemed to be rallying a little better, at least enough to be on his feet long enough to get _out_. "He's been doing it for decades."

By that point, several of Sinister's Marauders had arrived as well, looking ready for a brawl. The group of X-Men that had arrived to rescue their friends and family all looked ready to take them on, too, but for the moment, everything seemed to be hanging in the air, a sort of intensity ringing between the players while Sinister was regarding Azazel with near curiosity. Or he was — right up until Azazel locked gazes with him and, for a moment, the two of them were completely still, battling on an unseen psychic plane until Azazel let out a cry of disbelief when he read Sinister's thoughts.

"I am a demon lord, not some _specimen_ ," he snarled out as Sinister took a slight step back, shaking his head hard, clearly unprepared for Azazel's mental onslaught.

"Kurt," Logan said quietly. "I hate to do it, but my money's on your dad for this one."

"Just this once, I'm inclined to agree," Kurt replied as he unsheathed both swords, stepping slightly in front of Kate as he turned his attention to the Marauders while his father clearly had Sinister's attention.

Azazel let out a low snarl that echoed and shook the walls as he pounced, his sword drawn in a flash to draw first blood — though after only a few moments, it was clear that the two villains were actually fairly well-matched. The scales would probably have been tipped more in Azazel's favor if he was up to his full powers, but even so, he was chanting in a low voice that made the whole room even colder and seemed to be turning Sinister a strange charcoal color even after Sinister blasted Azazel full in the stomach and doubled him over, gaining some distance but not stopping Azazel's spell.

Azazel simply responded by lashing out with his tail to wrap around Sinister's arm and pull him closer to his blade, the fresh stab wound and blood that poured over the hilt of Azazel's sword only deepening the charcoal color Sinister was turning as the man seemed hard-pressed to use any of his usual tricks against a full-blooded demon.

"I got the captives," Logan called out to Kurt as he headed toward the door, still clutching onto K and not looking like he was about to let go anytime soon. "You and Noh keep the Marauders minding their own business."

"Get them out of here," Kurt agreed, though he seemed reluctant to let Kate go, especially considering how long it had been since they had last seen each other.

But as Noh had already rushed forward to trash the Marauders even before Logan's suggestion, the fight was already underway, and Kate gently squeezed Kurt's arm. "I'll see you when you're done," she said quietly.

"That's a promise," Kurt said and stole one more kiss before he dove in beside Noh, leaving Kate to catch up with Logan, K, and Scott. "Let's get outta here."

Charlie was still pretty well snuggled into her dad, but she picked her head up at that and looked adorably hopeful. "Out? Go home?"

"That's the idea, Charlie," Scott told her as he tucked her in a little better.

Charlie grinned at that, seemingly more energetic than Kate had seen her in a good long time as they rushed away from the lab setup and toward freedom. They were nearly up to the exit when two Marauders stepped out to block their way, and Charlie glared at both of them. "No, dabbit. No!" she shouted out insistently, which probably would have had Scott more mortified than he was if he wasn't focused on shielding her from the fight. As it was, though, Kate couldn't help but smirk when she saw the look on his face hearing his little girl use language like that.

Apparently, she'd picked up a few things while they'd all been prisoners together.

But on seeing the path blocked and hearing Charlie's angry outburst, K pushed on Logan slightly, and he finally set her down to dive into the fight with his claws flying. Scott pulled K back closer to himself as they basically just watched Logan burn off some frustration, tearing the Marauders to shreds before once again making his way over to the little group. He gave K a quick kiss and scooped her up just to look toward Scott. "When we get topside, I can try to cut that thing off," he said, tipping his head toward the inhibitor collar Scott was still wearing.

"Just make sure everyone gets out first and worry about that later," Scott replied.

"That's why I said _after_ ," Logan grumbled.

"I missed this," Kate said with a theatrical sigh and a grin as she gestured between the two of them. "I really, really missed this."

"Shut up," both of them half growled out at once, but that only had Kate grinning wider.

* * *

As Logan was getting the former captives out, Kurt and Noh kept the Marauders clear of Azazel's path while the demon king was clearly getting down to work. The more he was able to hurt Sinister, draw his blood, the more it was clear that whatever spell he was casting was taking its toll on the man. Sinister was practically on his knees by that point, only just keeping the demon back with his energy blasts, but it almost looked like he was… unravelling.

Literally.

"These gifts are not yours, pitiful man," Azazel muttered as he seemed to be sifting through Sinister's head, the diamond in the center of Sinister's forehead glowing on occasion, sometimes even with Azazel's mark rather than in a diamond shape. "No, no — that… that belongs to my son's pet," he muttered as he went. "And this — this belongs to his leader. No, no…" He was shaking his head to himself as Sinister turned an increasingly smoky hue and the walls started to crumble around them, still echoing with the force of Azazel's spell.

By that time, Noh and Kurt had more or less worked their way through the Marauders, though they didn't have much time to dwell on their success when the walls were shaking the way they were. Noh ended up catching an entire section of wall when it threatened to come down on him, and it was only the fact that he was as strong as he was that kept him from being flattened as he pushed against it until he could get out from underneath it, a bit wide-eyed at the close call.

"Time to go, I think," Kurt called out as he narrowly avoided part of the ceiling falling down.

"Feel free to take your alien friend with you," Azazel said, waving his hand. "I think I'll stay here and make his final seconds… _memorable_ ," he added with a terrifying grin.

"That sounds awfully compassionate of you. Don't you think it's more fitting to allow him to fall apart slowly?" Kurt said over Azazel's shoulder, trying to appeal to his father's sadistic side to get him to leave before he was killed — and got what he wanted without making Kurt kill him. "You seem to have hit on something that is doing just that. Let him wallow in it and watch his stolen gifts slip away from him."

At that, Azazel's terrifying grin only widened. "And you have been saying you have no stomach for torture," he said with a little laugh.

"I can make exceptions," Kurt growled out.

"Clearly." Azazel straightened and watched Sinister for a moment as the man turned even grayer. "I like your thinking, my boy. Let him suffer slowly. Let him bleed out the very powers he covets and watch his life's work drain away." He positively beamed at Kurt. "Fitting punishment — I couldn't be prouder."

Kurt didn't say anything except to look slightly murderous as he led the other two out of the crumbling building to meet up with Logan and the others — though it was obvious his father's praise was the _last_ thing he wanted to hear. He was still stewing over having to team up with him, let alone _agree_ with him… but it was hard to keep the glare when they caught up with the others and the first thing Kate did was all but tackle him in a hug and refuse to let go.

And for as mad as Kurt _wanted_ to be — at Sinister, at Azazel, at _himself_ — he simply couldn't bring himself to do anything but pull Kate into a long and lingering kiss, one hand in her hair and the other on her back. She returned the kiss with the same kind of hungry fervor — it was obvious she'd missed him as much as he had — and it was only the fact that he knew his father was still there that kept him from simply teleporting off with her.

He had _missed_ her. And nothing, not Azazel's words or Sinister's work, was going to keep him from showing her just how much as he let his tail curl around her leg and she dragged her teeth over his lip as she took just a moment to breathe before going right back to kissing him deeply.

It wasn't all kisses and happy reunions, though. Close by, Logan and Scott were bickering quietly as Logan tried to convince Scott to _relax_ so he could get the complicated metal collar off of him without tripping anything. "I'm not gonna cut your throat, or I'd have done it years ago."

"Just be _careful_ ," Scott said through his teeth, clearly not relaxed in the slightest, even if it was obvious he was exhausted in more ways than one through the whole ordeal, barely keeping himself away from collapsing for the sake of his pride — and not scaring Charlie.

"I'm always careful," Logan said with a frown as he finally brought the claw up to Scott's neck and delicately slid it under the collar just long enough to flick his wrist and slice through it without even the tiniest of scratches on Scott.

Scott rubbed his neck for a second as an expression like gratitude flirted with the corner of his mouth before Charlie looked up at him, tilted her head to the side, and very carefully patted where the collar used to be. "No more futzy creep?" she asked.

Logan raised his eyebrows at that. "You've been listening to Kate," he said to the little one. "Who taught you the other words?" But she just giggled and covered her mouth with her hands before Logan ruffled her hair. "Don't say that around your mom, kid."

She giggled at him and shook her head, eyes wide. "Noooo," she agreed solemnly.

And while Logan was distracted with the Summerses, Noh had made sure that K wasn't alone, clearly fussing over her with one hand under her elbow to support her, watching her carefully. It was obvious to him that she wasn't entirely with it and that she was downright exhausted, but without knowing the extent of what Sinister had been up to in the past weeks, Noh wasn't sure what level of concern he should be at. So, he opted simply to watch her carefully and wrap her up in the warmest hug he could — since at least he could assume that she had been without human contact for a long time, being in a separate cell from the others.

But with Kate and Kurt wrapped up in each other, that meant no one was really paying attention to what Azazel was doing — right up until he had reached out with his tail to very quickly cut a small symbol into Kate's arm.

Kate shouted out in surprise and pain and spun away from Kurt to face Azazel, who was simply grinning at her almost lazily as he said a few words low and quiet in the same language he had used against Sinister that had the symbol on her arm glowing and slightly smoky before an identical one appeared just below the surface of her skin of her stomach, shining even through her shirt.

Kurt all but snarled at his father, stepping in front of Kate with one sword in his hand. "What did you _do_?" he demanded, nearly ready to forget the danger and kill his father then and there. After searching for Kate for months and finally finding her again, to see her hurt, and by his own father… it was lucky he had _any_ rational thought left to remind him not to run the demon through.

But Azazel seemed completely unperturbed by Kurt's obvious threat and even started to chuckle lightly. "You clearly need the help to care for your family," he explained easily. "I simply added my protection. No need to thank me when you find she and the child cannot be harmed for the rest of her term and until the child is weaned."

"Thanking you for casting a spell on my _family_ had not crossed my mind," Kurt replied through gritted teeth.

"It is a fairly simple spell," Azazel replied lazily. "Give me some more time, and I could guarantee her safety more completely."

"Back off," Kate spit out his way. "Don't need or want _your_ help."

"I meant the little one, but if you feel my boy offers inadequate protection…" He flat-out grinned Kate's way for a second and then laughed it off, clearly amused when Kate turned red with anger. He had just raised his hand to wave their way on his way out when a crackle of energy split the air, and Azazel was positively frozen in place, locked in a stasis field with no way out.

"Sorry," Noh said quickly, holding one of the Accuser devices he'd pilfered from Hala last time they were there. "I didn't realize — I should have contained him the moment we left the building. My apologies." He frowned Kate's way for a moment. "I thought the spell Strange and the others placed on you would prevent his harming you?"

"It was a protective spell," Kurt said with a sigh, though his tail was twitching behind him even as he clutched Kate tighter to him. "I just don't know what kind of protection it gave."

Kate rubbed at the spot on her arm with a deep frown. "Let's not find out," she suggested. "Let's just… go home instead. Please."

"Clint and Natasha are on their way to find us, _liebchen_ ," Kurt said as he leaned his face into her hair. "As soon as we appeared here, they received our coordinates."

The pair of them settled in much the same manner as K and Logan had — curled up together leaning against a tree nearby. With Azazel contained for the moment, they didn't exactly care about anything other than reacquainting themselves, either, and the area outside of Sinister's former hideout fell silent except for the sounds of Charlie telling Noh in her babbled baby language everything that had happened, with occasional actual words thrown in there, like "futzy creep" and "daddy oush" until she started drifting off halfway through her sentences.

They didn't have too long to wait, though, as the hideout was tucked into the foothills of Virginia, so it wasn't too long of a journey for their very worried ride. As soon as the Quinjet set down, both of its occupants rushed to help the former captives load up — with Clint trying his very best to get in a good hug despite how attached Kate and Kurt were to each other at that point. "We've been globehopping, and you were close enough I could have _driven_ here," Clint said in disbelief as he slipped in for a sideways hug again.

"Where are we?" Scott asked with a frown as he stood up, with Charlie asleep on his shoulder, worn out from all the excitement.

"Virginia," Natasha replied, shaking her head. "Everyone back at the mansion will be relieved — we radioed in as soon as we had a visual on all of you."

"Virginia?" Kate repeated, wrinkling her nose for a second before she shook her head. "Well, at least the flight back will be short. It'll be nice to just be _home_."

At that, Kurt pulled her a bit tighter to him as he kissed the top of her head. "Then let's return quickly," he agreed before he simply scooped her up and carried her in — and the other rescuers followed suit, ushering the former captives inside.

* * *

On arrival, Henry and Tyler were waiting — fully prepared to dive in and all but attack their lost friends. So it was actually a surprise to Hank when he turned to find K and she'd managed to slip away from him. "I knew I should have gotten her first," Hank said as Charlie snuggled into his fur with a giggle.

"Blue, blue, blue, blue, blue," Charlie was all but singing to Hank, though she was totally distracted when Jubilee brought Chance down to where the group was gathered, and she let out a delighted squeal, all but climbing Hank to get down to where Chance was.

"Sissy!" Chance sang out to Charlie before both of them practically collided with each other into a hug and sat down in the middle of the lab floor, babbling to each other in a language that only they understood.

And while Hank was supervising the adorable twins, Tyler looked past Kate to where K had disappeared and let out a breath. "I can try to see her later — you know, if Logan lets me."

"Just let her snuggle a Wolverine," Kate muttered to Tyler. "That'll be much better than…" She just gestured around the lab a bit. "Um. Medical checkups."

Tyler smirked a bit. "Good thing I don't need all that shiny equipment then," he said quietly.

"This is true." Kate reached over and patted his arm affectionately, though now that they were safe and home, it was clear she was having a serious adrenaline crash, and she was leaning heavily on Kurt through the whole post-kidnapping examination.

But even when the little group had cleared Hank's checkups — complete with stern warnings to rest and eat well after everything they had been through — they were only mildly surprised to find that the two ferals had been waylaid by Annie as they tried to bypass the crowd on their way upstairs. She'd ushered them into chairs and was doing everything but force feeding them as she tried to assess for herself how they were.

"And you can't tell me you're fine, because that's a lie, so just be honest and tell me how much of the contents of the pantry you need before I let you go anywhere," she was telling Logan more than K.

"I wasn't hurt," K insisted.

Annie smiled sweetly at her. "Maybe not, but you still need food," she pointed out. "And he—" She tipped her head at Logan. "—hasn't _actually_ fed his healing. He had to use magic to _cheat_." She glared at Logan with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm fine," Logan argued. "Not even hungry."

"Oh really?" Annie just put her hands on her hips. "We'll see how 'not hungry' you are when I'm through with you."

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Logan asked with a little laugh.

She just waved her hand at him. "There's a difference between 'not hungry' and 'full', sweetie," she told him.

"Why don't you come find them after they've gotten some sleep?" Scott suggested gently, though he was _clearly_ amused by how his wife had all but pinned them both down. "Hard to eat when you're too tired."

"At least eat _something_ before you go to bed," Annie insisted to the pair of ferals, though it had a little less of the tone of an order to it when she's seen her missing husband and was already walking toward him, even if she kept her gaze on Logan and K. "It's not good for you to go on an empty stomach for so long — I don't care if you _do_ heal."

"You know I'm not gonna get sick if I go out in the rain either, right?" Logan teased.

Annie just rolled her eyes and pointed a finger his way. "You've been at this for _weeks_. Give me one meal to start. Prove to me you're not going to fall down a mountain again, and take some time to _heal_."

"There's a wrong way to go down a mountain," K muttered low enough for only Logan to catch. "You're not supposed to advertise when you do that. Especially to Southern women who want to stuff you like a turkey."

Logan just gave her a dry look for a moment. "I'm sure you were real cooperative with Sinister on food," Logan said quietly — but not so quiet that Annie didn't hear it. "When was the last time you actually ate anything?"

"I'm tired," K said, pushing away from him with a little stretch. "I just want to sleep. In a bed."

"Honey, you're supposed to be eating for two. At least have _something_ ," Annie said, half pleadingly, though it was clear she wasn't going to drop it.

"Only if Kate and Scott eat too," K said finally, snuggling back into Logan's side and still trying to be small.

Annie had to laugh a bit at that. "As if I wasn't going to make them eat too," she said, sliding one arm around Scott's middle as she said it. Scott didn't offer any commentary, either, instead gently pressing a kiss into her hair. He wasn't as overt as Kurt and Kate had been, but it was clear he just wanted to curl up with Annie, even if he _was_ totally entertained by her never-ending mission to feed Logan and K properly. "You've all been gone for weeks — you're not going anywhere without something _that man_ didn't feed you in your stomachs."

Scott was smirking at both his wife and K. "I wouldn't say no to an actually decent meal," he said as he pressed another quick kiss to Annie's forehead.

"And then sleep," Kate chimed in. "In a bed. K's right — that sounds really good."

"Then let's get you something warm and send you right off," Annie said, half ushering them into the kitchen. "I know just the thing."

It was hard to argue with Annie when she just looked so relieved to see them and to be able to do something to help in her own way, so very soon, not only the former captives but their rescuers were being plied with a dinner of chicken and cornbread — which they ate under Annie's watchful eyes.

The twins tried to "help," of course. Chance absolutely refused to let go of his sister's hand and kept giving her little hugs and kisses — and for Charlie's part, she kept reaching over to pat Chance's cheek and tell him "love you, brudder," to his obvious delight. So, the two of them were simply attached at the hip as they crawled up onto Annie's lap when she finally sat down and "directed" everyone.

"Yummy," Chance explained to Natasha when he felt like she was spending too much time talking to Clint and not actually eating anything.

And later, when K had more or less cleared her plate, Charlie gave her a very encouraging smile and patted her arm to say, "Good job." But when Annie left to go grab the dessert she'd made for the group, K and Logan very quietly slipped out and up the stairs.

It was clear all three members of Scott's family were determined to make sure everyone was happy and well-cared for, but of course, the twins were the first ones to tire themselves out. It was really a miracle they were even awake this long after their bedtime, but there _had_ been a lot of excitement, and Charlie had slept on the flight home.

They signalled that they were ready to be done by squirming out of Annie's lap as Chance actually let go of Charlie's hand for just a second as he tugged with both hands on his dad's pants leg until Scott picked him up to get a very tight baby hug and a wet kiss on the cheek. "Bedtime, Daddy?" Chance asked with big, wide eyes. "Stowies?"

Everyone at the table could see Scott visibly melting as he nodded and hugged his little boy for a moment. "Sure thing, Chance," he promised. "Any story you want."

Chance beamed at him for that one and hugged him around the neck. "Miss Daddy," he told Scott as his dad held him that much tighter, his head turned to hide the obvious emotion from the little boy.

Charlie tugged on his other leg until he picked her up too — and with one twin in each arm, a very widely grinning Scott let Annie lead him out of the kitchen as both of his kids babbled to him with excitement over getting to do storytime together for the first time in weeks.

The others watched the very cute family scene until they were out the door before Kate sighed and leaned her head on Kurt's shoulder. She and Kurt both had lapfuls of bamfs who were very happy to see them reunited and were doing their own version of snuggling and making sure that the two of them were well-fed, and she absently ran her fingers through the nearest bamf's hair as she whispered, "Bedtime sounds very good right now. In a real bed. That would be _awesome_."

Kurt had his tail snaked up around her leg and had practically pulled her into his lap for as close as the two of them were sitting, and he replied in what was almost a little low growl, " _Irgendwas du willst_ ," before he gathered her up in his arms and teleported them both up to their bed.

As soon as they were alone together, Kurt abandoned even the slightest semblance of restraint as he simply pulled her that much closer and kissed her right into the pillows, whispering quietly to her just how much he'd missed her, how much he loved her, how relieved he was, with every breath between kisses.

* * *

Even though they'd gone up well ahead of the group, it was the longest time before Logan and K fell asleep, since both of them were just far too glad to see each other to simply let go and relax. Few words were spoken as they got reacquainted.

Though who was more at fault, it was hard to say for as much as Logan was pulling her tight and peppering her with little kisses and she was nuzzling up and doing the same until they both more or less just passed out curled up tightly.

….

Translations from German:

" _Irgendwas du willst,_ " - As you wish


	15. Little Girls

**Notes: Seriously, O, both of us laughed. So. Hard. At your review. It is so SHOCKING when you end up rooting for the demon king *gigglesnort*. Truly a mark of how evil Sinister is. And yes, you can breathe again now, darling. Here, have some fluff. *throws recovery fluff at you***

* * *

 **Chapter 15: "Little Girls"**

* * *

Everyone was soundly asleep. Or, at least, it seemed that way.

Scott felt the shift on the bed, and he didn't yet crack open an eye as one of the twins clambered over him and then latched on — nearly wrapped around his head before there were many baby kisses.

Scott couldn't help smiling as he woke up and tried to readjust so he didn't move Chance too much, though once Chance saw that his dad was awake, he started babbling softly in as close to a whisper as the little boy was able. He got right up in Scott's face with a cute little grin, patting Scott's nose a few times with a closed fist to 'boop' him before he snuggled in underneath Scott's chin, hugging him tightly. "Want daddy," Chance said quietly, and that more than anything else was what had Scott taking him in a tight hug to kiss the top of his head.

"Missed you too, buddy," Scott whispered right back, though it was clear that for once, Scott was in no rush to get up and on with his day, instead curling around the little boy and listening to his almost-whispered babbling as Annie pretended to be still asleep so the boys could have the time in the morning to themselves.

* * *

Later that morning, Kate woke up slowly to the smell of brewing coffee, and she smiled to herself at the familiarity of the scent, nestling a bit deeper into Kurt's chest. She was content not to wake up fully quite yet and enjoy being with her husband for a while, all things considered, but the coffee was a nice touch.

Kurt was already awake, but he had the same idea Kate did. He was perfectly happy to curl around her, his tail wrapped around her ankle, giving her light kisses as he ran one hand through her hair.

The bamfs were the ones behind the coffee and were grinning at Kate, waiting for the expected snuggles and spoiling for their good work. She couldn't help but smirk at the wide-eyed, semi-patient expressions and swaying tails before she held out one sleepy arm to wave them over at last.

And as soon as Kate was up enough to move, Kurt moved on to kissing the line of her jaw, smiling sedately at her as she very slowly woke up. It wasn't until she had two cups of coffee in her that he even spoke to her — though he didn't seem too disappointed by the delay in her conversational abilities, as he was doing plenty with nonverbal communication.

"How are you feeling this morning, _Vögelchen_?" he asked in her ear before he kissed her there again.

In answer, she leaned back against him with a quiet smile and sipped her coffee. "Much better," she whispered out. "I have coffee, I have you… yes. This is perfect."

He smiled wider at that and nuzzled into her hair and neck for a long moment. "I'm glad to hear it," he whispered low.

She turned to face him better and steal a proper kiss that was a bit more involved than she had intended it to be — not that she was complaining. When the kiss broke, she smiled at him, biting her lower lip for just a moment as she studied him. "And what about you?" she asked.

"I have you back — what more could I ask?" he said, his tail snaking around her slightly tighter as he said it before he stole another long kiss that still tasted of her second cup of coffee.

"Good answer," she replied. She leaned into the kiss, and for a long moment, she simply enjoyed the feeling of having him there, one of his hands in her hair and the other pulling her tighter.

The little bamfs shared a look as their big brother and purple pretzel lady became more involved — again — and poofed out of the room into the kitchen, where they spent the better part of an hour gathering some food, like fruits and toast and various other things.

They held a quick little conference of bamf-speak among themselves before it was agreed that K's little friend would go check on the ferals and Kate's little flirt would check on the other two so that they could be sure it was safe to return with some food for their friends.

Kate's little flirt returned with two thumbs up, but K's friend shook his head, chattering at the others as he mimed sleeping ferals — and was sure to point out that Logan flat wasn't letting K get more than breathing room away from him and report how he had growled at the little bamf when he'd appeared in their room. Clearly, he needed space and privacy with K.

With that, the little bamfs teleported back into Kurt and Kate's room, balancing the tray of food between them. Kate was curled into Kurt's side, her head on his bare chest as he was twisting a lock of her hair between his fingers and gently pressing kisses to the top of her head. When he saw the bamfs' hard work, though, he broke into a little grin and reached up with one hand to carefully balance the tray and set it down in front of himself and Kate. " _Danke, mein Freunds_."

The little bamfs giggled and chattered at him in response as Kate pulled the blanket up a little better, up to her collarbone, before she let the bamfs snuggle in to be spoiled for being so thoughtful. She kissed the top of each of their heads. "Little sweethearts," she practically cooed at them as they grinned and giggled at her.

"I think they know we have no plans to go anywhere today," Kurt said with a light smile and a spark of trouble in his gaze. "And they want to make sure we stay well-fed."

"That and they want kisses and snuggles," Kate teased as her little flirty friend grinned and kissed her cheek with a ' _bamf_.'

"They sorely missed you," Kurt agreed as he affectionately ruffled one of the bamfs' hair. "As did I."

She leaned back into him, popped a blueberry or two in her mouth, and smiled up at him with her chin tipped back. "Missed you too, fuzzy Elf," she whispered, and he leaned down to kiss her again. She snuggled in a bit and seemed to consider her next words carefully, letting Kurt get a bit of toast as she thought it over. "I so didn't want you _there_ , because creepy bad guys are _not_ allowed near my Elf? But… you should've been there for… some of the stuff that he was doing…" She trailed off, sure that she wasn't expressing her thoughts properly as she grabbed a piece of toast and took a rather big bite so that she couldn't talk anymore.

Kurt was still half nuzzling into her hair, but she noticed that he stiffened and stilled the slightest bit at the mention of what Sinister had been up to. "Oh?" he asked simply, carefully.

She let out her breath, trying to figure out how to approach it. She hadn't _liked_ being a test subject for Sinister in the _least_ , but some of it was _good news_ , and it was just… "I mean," she tried to explain, "you should have been there to hear the heartbeat ... and… and to see her little tail on the monitor, and… all of it."

Kurt had stilled for an entirely new reason, the surprise evident in the way he'd positively stopped and turned to face her with the most open, wide-eyed expression she had ever seen from him. "Little tail?" he repeated at just over a whisper, very slowly, and Kate couldn't help but melt into him a little bit at the slow grin she could see tugging at the very corners of his mouth.

"I'll ask Henry to set something up so you can see her," Kate suggested, almost laughing to herself when Kurt's eyes widened even more and the grin finally broke loose. He seemed to be having a hard time coming up with anything to say that wasn't a huge grin, so she decided to prompt him a bit with, "You really should get to see your little girl."

The little laugh of sheer delight and surprise broke free from his throat before he simply forgot about the tray of food the bamfs had brought up and tackled her into the pillows with a kiss that surprised even Kate. She burst into delighted laughter as he was completely unable to string two words together between passionate kisses — only occasionally managing things like "little girl" and "tail" in a breathless, almost disbelieving sort of voice.

* * *

For the first day or two after the prisoner's return from Sinister, it was clear that Logan and K were not poking their heads out of their room for anything. But between the bamfs, Jubilee, and finally some quiet suggestions from Annie _to_ the bamfs, they worked out a system to make sure that the two of them were at least looked after.

Considering that Jubilee was the only one _not_ to get growled at, though, it was a little bit hard for anyone to know what was up. And the firecracker was flat refusing to give out anything but the barest and most essential information when asked too.

"If you wanna know so bad — you can go talk to them yourself," Jubilee said with her nose up slightly. Not that it was helpful.

"They're not exactly being friendly," Scott pointed out after he'd asked her to find out more for the third time.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jubilee said as she took a huge bite of sugar pops. "They're perfectly normal to me."

"Have they even left the room?"

Jubilee shrugged up both shoulders and tipped her head to the side, mouth full of cereal as she thought it over. "I 'unno. If they have, you missed it — that's what'cher sayin' right?" She grinned at him in spite of herself. "You're worried aren't you, you big, sweet, snuggly fearless?" She was nearly cackling to herself, but had to put one more level of fun to it. "Oh. And … Noh and I are gonna take off for a few days, so you might want to figure out how to send smoke signals up if you're all _that_ worried."

Scott gave her a _look_ for that one and then shook his head. "I just need to make sure my team is taken care of. Just shy of a month with Sinister — that's not exactly something you shrug off."

"I don't know what you're worked up about. They know how to take care of themselves just fine," Jubilee said as she finished up her cereal. She gave him a little smile then took care of her bowl and skipped out of the kitchen.

Scott stared after Jubilee for a moment before he let out an irritated sound and pushed back from the table to get up himself. He wanted to have a word with Hank — Sinister's admonition about how K hadn't been eating enough before this whole mess still ringing in his head.

He wasn't going to let her waste away in that room if he could help it. No matter what Logan thought about the matter. Privacy was one thing, but this was about her actual _life_ , and the little one's too.

* * *

Henry was surprised to see Kurt and Kate in his lab so soon after the rescue — he had assumed they would be more interested in getting reacquainted, and Kate had seemed a bit wary of anything medically related when he saw her last… but then he noted the huge grin on Kurt's face as Kate hopped onto the bed nearest his equipment with a little smirk of her own, and he had a feeling he knew what this was about before Kate even got around to, "Think you could show Kurt his little girl's tail for me, pretty please?"

Henry couldn't help but smile at the look on both of their faces — at Kate's smirk or Kurt's unrestrained expression of excitement. "Of course," he said as he started to gather what he would need. "I'd love to see the littlest Elf myself," he added with a wide grin that got Kurt looking even more delighted than before.

Kate was grinning at Kurt to watch his reaction when he went entirely still and quiet on hearing the first heartbeat on the machines, his eyes wide and looking like he might float off if not for the hand that he had wrapped tightly in Kate's — though when Henry found the little one and started to point out where the tail had formed, _both_ of them had gone entirely still and quiet, with matching smiles — since Kate hadn't been able to _see_ the results of Sinister's tests.

Of course, Henry was grinning widely at both of them. It was impossible not to, when it was so abundantly clear that both Kate and Kurt were _beyond_ excited. And by the time he was done helping Kate clean off some of the goop from the test, he was sure neither of the Wagners were even on the same planet as the rest of the mansion residents.

He waited for a moment to give them some time to process, putting away his things and needlessly cleaning his glasses before he put a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "I wonder if I could ask a favor of you," he told the ecstatic Elf. "It's been a few days since their return, and I really do _need_ to see K. She and Logan haven't poked their noses out for anything since their return, and she's far enough along that her little one could come any day." He drew in a breath and let the smile slip. "And for as experienced as I am with emergency procedures, if that can be avoided, I would prefer to make this easy on her. So … I need to ensure that I am fully prepared when the time comes. And to be honest," Hank continued at a whisper. "No one but Jubilee has been able to get into that room with them without getting growled at or more."

Kurt nodded quickly. "Of course," he said. "I'll speak with them both." With that, he had disappeared in an instant — with Kate, who he kissed and left by the coffee she'd been craving before he reappeared again outside of Logan and K's room in the hallway. He knew better than to poke his head in after Hank's warning, so he knocked first, calling out, "Logan, K — may I come in?"

"Door's open," Logan called out.

Kurt grinned to himself as he pushed the door open to find that his two feral friends, predictably, were still about as close as they could get to each other. "I hate to intrude, but Henry sent me," he told them upfront, though he was still wearing such an unrestrained grin that it was clear that wasn't the only reason he was there. "He'd like to see K."

"I'll bet he would," K muttered, burrowing in a bit deeper. "What else?"

Kurt settled into an even broader grin before as he perched on the foot of the bed. "I've come from seeing Henry myself — with Kate," he explained. "And my friends, my daughter has the most beautiful heartbeat. And a _tail_."

Logan smiled at him crookedly. "You sound surprised somehow," he said with a laugh. "Congrats on your little girl."

Kurt let out his own delighted sort of laugh as he nodded. "Thank you. It's.. _wonderbar_."

The two ferals shared a look and with a little nod from K, Logan took a deep breath before he spoke up quietly. "The girls' will be trading outfits in no time."

Kurt picked up his head, ears almost straight up as he looked over at Logan. "Girls?" he repeated, clearly not sure if he heard right or understood the implication.

Logan started to nod slowly. "They'll be pretty close in age," he replied.

Kurt beamed at both of them for a moment before, in a rush, he had vaulted over to wrap K in a hug and to them almost immediately do the same for Logan. " _Dies ist perfekt!_ " he declared happily.

"We figured you should know beforehand, since Kate and Scott already knew," Logan told him. "Didn't think that Sinister was gonna be a jackass and wreck it for 'em."

Kurt's smile dimmed only the slightest bit as he shook his head. "Yes, well ... he ruined quite a few things and disrupted our lives for some time. I'm simply glad to see everything else is still _in Ordnung_." He clapped his hand on Logan's shoulder and kept it there, still grinning at his friend despite the specter of Sinister. "Congratulations, Logan. You and K — you will be marvelous parents to the little one."

"I hope so," K muttered softly, still not looking as if she was entirely back from the disaster with Sinister. "Have to wait and see."

Kurt smiled at her with a teasing look in his eyes. "Considering how many residents of the mansion you seem to have adopted already…"

"Someone _else_ already screwed them up, long before they met us," K said. "Any cob jobs here are all our fault. And we tend to make bigger mistakes than what should be possible."

Kurt laughed. "I think that's why you asked my help — to be sure that doesn't happen," he teased. "And really, I have an easy job. I won't need to do a thing — you two will be marvelous."

"Oh, see ... we were going with the more _traditional_ meaning with the godparents thing? You know … you'll be expected to step in and take over in the event of our deaths, but if you're not up to that ... we can find someone stupid enough to do it," K said.

Kurt shook his head and couldn't help but chuckle at her again. "You know I'll be there for absolutely anything and _everything_ your little one needs." He let the smile drop just the slightest bit to show he was serious as he added, But I'd appreciate it if you didn't die on me all the same."

"If we did it sure as hell wouldn't be on purpose," Logan promised.

"Well at least there's that." Kurt shook his head at both of them.

"So did Hank say what he _wanted,_ exactly?" K asked. "Trying to gauge if this is an actual 'really need to do it' or a 'I just want to because I have nothing better to do' thing?"

Kurt shook his head again. "He said that it was nearly time for your little one to make an appearance, and he wanted to be ready — it sounded like he needed to gauge where you were, not simply that he was curious."

"I … am _here_. Hiding. That's where I am."

"You know very well what I meant."

"I really don't," she countered with a tiny, put-on smile.

Kurt gave her a theatrical sigh and rolled his eyes. "It's unbecoming to lie to your daughter's godfather in this way, _mein Freund_ ," he teased lightly.

"Honestly? I'm fighting every urge in every cell to disappear into the woods and never return," K answered. "Honestly."

At that, Kurt raised both eyebrows and reached over to put a hand on her arm for a moment. "I'm sorry this is so stressful to you — and I'm sure the last few weeks haven't helped," he said softly.

"Knowing it's surgery for sure really isn't helpful," she admitted.

"I'm sure Henry will find the least intrusive way to go about the surgery," Kurt said reassuringly. "And I shall personally keep anyone from entering unless you want them there when the time does come." He allowed a little smirk. "I'm sure Noh will help me."

"See, that's the thing. I want to go off into the _woods_. Away from _everyone_. I can't guarantee that I won't bite the living hell out of anyone," she admitted. "I am feeling … _mean._ "

"Then I definitely won't let anyone in," Kurt decided with a short nod. "And please — do not bite me either," he added with a bit of a twinkle in his gaze, still riding high from seeing his daughter for the first time.

She smirked up at him and nodded before she looked up at Logan. "I guess .. I should try to ease the doc's mind. Or at least put him on notice that I might have to play hide and seek first." Logan nodded, and in short order the two of them finally headed off to talk to Hank.

When the pair of them got down to see the good doctor, though, it was abundantly clear to anyone even remotely paying attention that K simply did not want to be there. She had a low-key soft growl that slipped past her unbidden — though it matched up with the slight tremble to the hand that wasn't clutching on to Logan's.

It was painfully clear that it was an instinctual thing that she had no control over, and Hank — as always — handled her with an exceeding amount of care.

First and foremost — and perhaps because the equipment was already waiting — Hank gently pulled over the ultrasound machine to check in on the little girl, smiling to himself and nodding his head as he noted how healthy the little one was. "Everything is in place," Hank said finally. "It's up to her now, I'm afraid."

"See? You didn't need to see me," K said, still looking sullen about having to be there, but that ebbed substantially when Hank rested one warm furry hand over hers.

"My dear girl, I know you've been put upon, but please, don't compare me to that delinquent sociopath — even as a passing reference to one lab or the next. There is simply no comparison betwixt us," Hank told her in a warm, comforting rumble, and maybe it was his tone — or his hand, but whatever it was, she relaxed substantially as she rearranged her shirt and sat up to look him in the eyes.

"You are safe with me," Hank told her earnestly. "And I won't allow you to be in any more pain than I'd like to put myself in."

He held her gaze for a long moment before quite suddenly — and before Hank could have ever considered stopping her, she darted forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. He startled only for a moment before returning the gesture. It was clear that at least some of Scott's suspicions were right, and she was terribly starved for human contact. Hank glanced over her shoulder to Logan, who looked almost relieved to see her reaction, and for a long time, Hank just held onto her.

When the hug finally broke, Hank held her at arm's length just below her shoulders. "When this starts — and we talked about how you'll know — please don't hesitate about coming to see me."

K nodded after a long pause, and as Logan stepped forward, Hank let her go back into Logan's care. "We'll probably see you sooner than later," Logan told him as he pulled K closer, and the two ferals headed back upstairs to hide away for the duration.

…

Translations from German:

 _Danke, mein Freunds_. - Thank you, my friends.

 _Dies ist perfekt -_ This is perfect

 _in Ordnung -_ in order


	16. Pretty Baby

**Notes: Well, here we are at the end of the volume! As always, we're going to put up the next one shortly, so keep an eye on Canucklehead Cowgirl's profile for Volume 11: "The Traitor, The Avenger, and the Killer".**

 **But we want to end on some beautiful, beautiful fluff, so here, have fluff!**

 **O, we're so glad you're loving the Elf fluff, especially since you ARE the Elf. He's darling and romantic, and we love him so.**

 **And griezz, we have plans for the names of all the kids. You'll just have to wait and see. Like we've said several times, most of this is already written out; we're just adding in more detail and editing as we go. And we're** _ **not**_ **taking requests. We've put a lot of thought into how we want to tell our story, so there is no room for altering what we've planned out and decided long ago to suit other people's desires. Feel free to write up your own version however you like and we'd love to read it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: "Pretty Baby"**

* * *

Logan had been watching K for the better part of two hours, _waiting_ for her to say something. It was clear that she'd gone past the point of uncomfortable, but she seemed bound and determined to ignore it. She'd gotten to where she'd simply close her eyes and hold her breath for at least a minute at a time before he finally gently tipped her chin up so he could look her in the eyes.

"You know you're gonna have to go down there," he said softly. "Why not get going before it's an actual emergency?"

She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes as another pain hit her. "He wants to cut me open," she said under her breath.

He let out a breath and sat next to her to try and comfort her. "Yeah, but he's not going to let you hurt. Come on, trust me," Logan said with a little smirk. "Or have you been around the Elf so much your drama level's gone up and you gotta have Kurt teleport you down there?"

" _No_ ," K said quickly. "I don't need to get sick on top of everything else. Or … alert the stupid grin patrol."

With that, the two of them stealthily made their way down to the medical bay — K had insisted that she really didn't want anyone to see them going — not that there was anyone awake anyhow, since it was nearly two in the morning.

But when they got to the lab, Hank was still up, half on edge — knowing that K was going to be coming down sooner or later. He didn't question her, as he knew she was nervous — both from body language and scent. Instead, he gently took her hand and led her over to a _chair_ of all things, which had K looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What … what's the big plan, big guy? Can you do this without all the screaming and freaking out?" K asked. "Or am I stuck with more nightmare fuel?"

Hank gave her a kind smile and pulled out an inhibitor collar. "I have some thoughts," he said. "I can make sure you don't get a bit of nightmare fuel from this if you'd like — or we can try something a bit more … mainstream."

"What are the options?" K asked, turning the collar over in her hands.

"Both require the inhibitor," he said as he indicated she should put it on, and K looked at the device distrustfully for a long moment, though she did slowly put the thing on, wincing as it snapped shut. "One: we can try to perform a spinal so you can be awake—"

"Nope," K said shaking her head. "I've heard enough about that to know I don't need to feel like anyone is pulling on parts I can't feel."

Hank nodded his head knowingly. "I had assumed you wouldn't like that," Hank replied. "In that case, you'll simply go to sleep and wake up with a little one."

K raised one eyebrow and looked him over carefully — holding her breath as another contraction came through. "Okay, fine," she said finally.

He nodded and started the prep while Logan quietly kept her company, promising to stay with her until she was awake enough to hold the little one. She looked nervous — but more than ready to get the whole fiasco over with — so when Hank put the IV in with no hassle, she just stared at it for a moment.

He led her to the operating room and had her lie down. "Do I have to guess what it is you're having all the way up to the last moment?" Hank asked as he held the gas mask to her face.

K opened her mouth to answer, but before she could get the words out, she had already fallen asleep.

….

When K woke up after what felt like a short while later, it was to soft noises to her left, where Logan was cradling a tiny bundle in his arms with a proud sort of contented little smile. "Hey you," K said in a very sleepy-sounding voice.

"Hey yourself," Logan answered as he gently stood up and crossed the short span to sit down facing her on the bed. "Ready to meet our daughter?" he asked, watching K and waiting for her to nod before he tipped his arms so she could see the tiny face and the tuft of black hair sticking out of her cap.

K rushed to sit up, off-balance at how much smaller she was suddenly, used to her center of gravity being much lower. When she was steady, he handed her the little girl and smiled watching them as K ran a finger over the baby's little cheek with a slowly growling crooked smile. "Hello, little one." The baby's hand was sticking out of the swaddled blanket, and as K shifted her in her arms, the baby flexed her long, spindly fingers. "Such tiny hands," K said quietly as she started to smile a little bit.

"Tiny everything," Logan agreed, unable to stop the smile as he watched his wife and new daughter. "She looks like you, though."

"Small miracles," K teased. "She does seem to have my nose, doesn't she?"

"Small miracles," he agreed.

"Did you name her?" K asked, looking a bit anxious at his response, and finally looking up at him with an open expression.

Logan shook his head. "Wanted to make sure you didn't change your mind on that," he admitted. "But I like the one you picked."

" _You_ have to say it," K told him, smirking a bit. "My family hang up. Has to come from the father."

"Alright, Elin Annika — that's what you were headed toward, right?" he asked before he leaned forward and kissed them both, sure to give K a kiss that was long and lingering.

"As long as you can live with it," she shot back, to which he chuckled and nodded before he waved Hank over to clear her.

There was a bit of a kerfuffle between Hank and Logan as the two of them argued for a moment. Naturally, Logan was hellbent on getting K out of medical and back to where she was at least at ease, while Hank argued that the baby was borderline preemie-sized and should stay there until she got a bit bigger.

K watched the two of them with mild amusement with little Elin in her arms until she quietly told the little one what she thought. "Uncle Blue wants to get cut," K said in a sing-song tone. And with that, Hank stopped dead in his tracks, and both men looked over to where K was half folded in on herself with the baby in her arms, quietly singing to herself in Swedish.

"You know, you're a geneticist," Logan said with his hands on his hips. "What are the chances a pair of shrimps are going to have a 'normal'-sized baby anyhow?"

Hank's shoulders dropped the slightest, and with a resigned kind of nod, he finally agreed. "Once she's nursed — you can go," Hank said. "But only _after_ then."

"Sold," K agreed.

* * *

It was the dead of night when the bamfs woke both Kate and Kurt absolutely _freaking out_. Some of them were shaking the two of them awake and grabbing onto their pajamas to try and pull them up — others were simply in a state of extreme excitement over something, chattering at a speed even Kurt was struggling to understand. None of them could stay still for even the slightest moment, pulling, tugging, chattering, or even simply running around the room with wide eyes.

"What the heck?" Kate muttered out as her favorite little bamf had hold of her hand with both of his and was pulling with all his might to get her out of the bed, and Kurt had about three of them forcibly getting him to sit up, little feet in his back to push.

"What is happening? What's wrong?" Kurt asked the little bamfs, but they kept pulling until Kurt and Kate were up, out of bed, and on their feet. As soon as they were sure that neither of them would go back to sleep, the bamfs started to pull their friends along rather than teleport them to wherever the excitement was — though it was clear why they didn't want to teleport when they stopped outside of Logan and K's room and looked very, very urgent.

Almost concerned now, Kurt peered into the room — and then had to stop when he saw that Logan and K were awake… and half curled around a very, very small bundle in K's arms.

Kate peeked her head in around Kurt and broke into a delighted squeal that was only semi-contained by the hand that she clamped over her mouth at the last minute as she rushed inside, with Kurt hot on her heels. "We _missed it_?" she breathed out.

"It really didn't take long," K said. "At least as far as I remember. Got knocked out. Inhibitor. Whole nine."

Kurt was positively beaming, one hand on Logan's shoulder as he leaned over for a moment. "She is lovely," he said in a nearly reverent whisper. "Truly."

"Look at that hair," Kate added, with the softest giggle. "She's _tiny_!"

"Not like there was much of a choice on that," Logan replied with a smirk.

"True," Kate admitted, a sparkle in her eyes as she leaned over K's shoulder. "What's her name?"

"Elin," K replied. "It's an old Swedish name."

"I love it." Kate grinned down at the little girl and waved with the tips of her fingers. "Happy birthday, Elin."

"And how are you feeling?" Kurt asked K with one eyebrow raised.

"Oh, I'm fine," K said in a sigh. "Back to normal, more or less."

"And with a little wonder in your arms," Kurt said with a wide, beaming smile. " _Herzliche Glückwünsche."_

"Want to hold her?" K offered.

Kurt looked a bit surprised, and then very sheepish and nervous. "Are you sure?" he asked, holding out his hands. "She is… very small," he added.

"C'mon, Elf, you scared of that tiny little girl? Already?" Logan teased.

"I have a healthy respect for her parents," Kurt said with a little scoff and a sideways smirk.

K and Logan shared a look, and the two of them moved over so that there was space next to K, which really gave Logan a better opportunity to put his arm around her. "Come on, sit down and meet your god-daughter."

Kurt was positively beaming, though his eyes were still wide as he sat down next to K and very, _very_ gently took the little one in his arms, the expression on his face something close to reverential as he looked down at her. "She is perfect," he said in a whisper.

"Nothing fits her," K told him. "Hank very nearly tried to get us to stay in the med bay because she's so little."

"Clothes are just things — she'll grow into them," Kurt said dismissively. "She's still perfect."

K pulled her knees up to her chin as she watched Kurt, smirking to herself, since now that he had the little girl in his arms, he sure didn't look like he was in any kind of a rush to set her down.

Kate was watching Kurt, too, and she let out a very soft laugh when he melted all over again as little Elin let out a tiny yawn. "It's a good thing he's got one on the way, because … look at him," she whispered low in K's ear, leaning past Kurt. "Just _look at his face._ "

"I know," K replied. "I think he'd have no trouble babysitting if I wanted to go chase a deer down or … something."

"The trouble will be letting anyone _else_ have a turn," Kate replied.

"He's afraid I'll bite him — he'll hand her over," K laughed.

Kate giggled at that before she leaned over and hugged K around the shoulders. "Nice work, K."

"I didn't _do_ anything," she replied.

"Uh-huh. Looks like someone skipped the lesson in how babies are made," Kate teased.

"No, I understand that — but I also understand that _she_ did it all herself. I just got to get all twisted out of shape over it," she replied.

Kate grinned and leaned over a bit more to look at Elin and then settled back to watch her husband fall into pure joy as the very tiny feral seemed content to fall asleep in his arms.

* * *

At breakfast, Kate waited until Jubilee and Noh had come down for coffee before she very quietly pulled Jubilee aside. "You should pop in on Logan and K. And bring them some breakfast," she said with a significant look. "They're not coming out of that room anytime soon, but they still need to eat." She paused. "And Kurt and I already took a turn dropping in on them, so… bring Noh. He'll want to see K."

Jubilee tipped her head to the side with a little frown. "O-kay …"

"Just trust me on this. They're in good moods," Kate said, trying not to let her smile betray the surprise. "No growls and snarls!"

"Well ... maybe you should pick out what I bring up for them that she won't just … ignore. Again," Jubilee said. "Because I am so not good at bringing that woman anything to eat."

Kate tried very hard not to grin as she nodded semi-thoughtfully and got up to start picking out things to put on the breakfast tray — mostly eggs and sausage. "Oh — and I promised you'd be the first to know about some other things, but Sinister got there first so… you're like, fourthish to know about me and Kurt's little girl," she added in a teasing whisper when she knew Noh was close enough to hear too. "Sorry I suck at keeping you at the top of the list, apparently."

For a moment, Jubilee stared at her in surprise before she bounced over with a grin to give Kate a hug. "Well, when Sinister was involved, I guess it's hard to keep that promise," she said, pulling a face with her tongue sticking out. "What did he do, blurt it out with no warning?"

"Just started doing the whole 'mmm so interesting' speech about her little tail," Kate said with an expression somewhere between annoyance and excitement — which was quickly becoming the case for talking about anything Sinister told her that was good news but still came from him. "Which — by the way. _Little tail_. So cute."

"You are having a little girl?" Noh asked abruptly, though to his credit, he was quiet enough about it not to draw attention. He was slightly wide-eyed and smiling. "That's lovely news!"

"I had Hank print the ultrasound picture," Kate said quietly. "It's really cute. You should stop by _after_ you bring breakfast to Logan and K." She let out a little 'ah' of triumph as she finished up with the tray of food.

"She's going to need coffee," Kurt pointed out. "She said she'd want company for _fika_ too."

"Oh, yes, of course," Kate agreed quickly, simply snatching the pot right out of his hands and handing it to Noh. "Can't forget that. You two should bring it up while it's fresh."

Noh shook his head at her. "You're relinquishing the coffee pot?" he teased.

"I have another one in my office all to myself," Kate pointed out. "And I trust you to bring it back down for refills — eventually. Now hurry up and get your butts upstairs while everything's still hot. There's nothing worse than cold and rubbery eggs." With that, she pushed Jubilee and Noh toward the door as Annie watched the whole thing with her head tipped way to the side and a confused look on her face.

"What's going on here?" she asked suspiciously, and Kate and Kurt shared a look before Kate shrugged both shoulders up to her ears.

"Just trying to take care of the ferals," Kate said.

"She figured out what K would eat," Kurt said. "And she did the last turn of bringing the food up. So it's their turn. You can go next."

"Yeah, we'll send you two up for lunchtime," Kate agreed with a wide smirk. "Besides, I think Charlie is Logan snuggle-deprived, the way she's going on about 'want Wogan'. I was gonna suggest you guys go up anyway."

Annie pursed her lips slightly as she watched Kate and then finally, slowly nodded. "Well, far be it from me to argue against feeding people who need it," she said — which, of course, had Kurt and Kate smirking at each other.

* * *

When Noh and Jubilee got upstairs and peeked into Logan and K's room, it was to find K completely dead asleep and Logan sitting up beside her with a little bundle of yellow blankets in his arms that had Jubilee outright staring for a second as she realized what must have happened overnight.

Noh gently took the tray of breakfast food from Jubilee so it wasn't in the way and gave her a little nudge to get her moving. "I believe it's customary to say hello," he said, smiling outright at the look on her face.

"Um … yes!" Jubilee said as she seemed to float on her tiptoes across the room to a smirking Logan, who shifted himself to hand the baby to Jubilee.

"Her name is Elin," Logan rumbled as he put the baby in Jubilee's arms. She half melted and half beamed before she took a seat facing Logan a few steps away on the loveseat.

"Noh, come take a peek!" Jubilee whispered as the little one let out a sigh. By that time, K had woken up and propped herself up on her elbow to watch.

Noh smiled at Jubilee first, wrapped up in her elation more than anything else, though when he got close enough to see the very, very tiny Elin, he raised both eyebrows and couldn't stop the little "oh!" of surprise. "She… she is so very… delicate," he said, not at all his usual eloquent self as he searched for the words.

"You should hold your baby sister," K suggested. "And take a peek at her hands."

Noh carefully slid in next to Jubilee and waited for her to tip Elin into his arms, and he held her very, _very_ lightly. "Hello, little sister," he said in a soft whisper. "You seem to be made from the clouds."

Jubilee reached over and loosened up the blanket wrapped around the little one so she could see her hands as K suggested, and as soon as it was loosened up enough, little Elin pulled both arms free of the blanket and flexed her little fingers slowly.

"Oh!" Noh looked even more wide-eyed. "Oh, she… is so tiny."

She squirmed in his arms, then snuggled into him a bit before she let out a great, hitching yawn and seemed to simply fall into a deeper sleep.

Noh looked up at K with wide, nearly shining eyes. "She… she fell asleep."

"That's what babies do, sparkly little angel," K replied with the smoky tone of sleep in her voice. "They eat and snuggle and sleep."

"Yes, I know from… Scott's children did the same, but… she…" He looked back down at Elin and shifted her in his arms the slightest bit.

"Is a lot smaller, I know," K replied. "But I'm a lot smaller than they are. And .. so is Logan."

"You two are much sturdier than this delicate ball of clouds," Noh pointed out with awe in his voice as Jubilee was outright grinning next to him, totally amused by how quickly Noh had fallen in absolute love.

"Didn't start out that way," Logan laughed.

"I cannot quite imagine a delicate Wolverine, I'm afraid," Noh chuckled quietly.

"Good. Don't try," Logan replied. "So — think she's a keeper?"

"Absolutely," Noh said fiercely.

"There's no doubt," K agreed with a little laugh. "Anyone that tried to take her would be sorely regretting all of their life decisions."

"And I might even let you help if you catch up before I'm through with such a person," Noh added with a bit of fire in his gaze.

"I'm teasing, Noh," Logan said with a smile. "We're pretty fond of her."

At that, Jubilee brought the food closer to the two ferals. "You two might as well eat. You're not getting her back right away."

K laughed at that and gratefully took a cup of coffee in one hand as she nibbled at the piled up bits that Kate had arranged for them, while Noh continued to simply beam at Elin taking in her every breath. And it was that way for a good, long time — all the way up until there was a soft gasp at the door.

Annie was standing there with Charlie in one arm and a new tray of food in the other hand, her mouth open wide as she didn't even try to pretend to hide her shock and joy. "Oh! When — when did this happen? You should have — oh!" She interrupted herself mid-sentence as she just shook her head and all but bounced. "Is it a boy or girl? Have you picked out a name? Oh, this is so exciting!"

"Annie, meet Elin," K said after she swallowed a mouthful of coffee. "She decided to make an appearance last night. We didn't want to bother anyone in the middle of the night."

"Elin!" Annie repeated, setting aside the new tray of food as she glided over, though Charlie looked very curious as to what everyone was so excited about as she held onto her mom's shirt. "You have a little girl!"

Scott had come up with Annie too and wasn't far behind her with Chance, grinning as he watched her flit over to where Elin was to fall apart with beaming smiles and lots of "oh!"s thrown all over the place whenever she noticed something new, like her little fingers or her wispy black hair. "Congratulations, you two," Scott said with a smile of his own.

He brought Chance around to see too — and unlike Charlie, who was regarding Elin with a curious look, Chance got very excited.

"Baby! Baby!" he told his dad, pulling on his shirt with one hand as he pointed with the other. "Baby! _Wook_ , daddy."

"Yes, I see," Scott said as he took a bit of a firmer grip on Chance, who was tipping out of his arms trying to see Elin better. Scott was full-out grinning himself as he looked down at little Elin, the smile reaching right up to his eyes — and to anyone paying attention, it was clear that Chance had the exact same grin.

"Daddy, pwetty baby. Daddy, wook," Chance said, still trying to get closer.

Annie laughed and set Charlie down so she could scoop Chance out of Scott's arms. "Yes, she's very pretty," she agreed with the little boy as Charlie peeked shyly over the edge of the bed and very quietly stared at the little feral family — and Scott was finally able to get a good look at little Elin without dealing with his own over-eager baby in his arms. He broke into an even wider grin that looked physically painful as he beamed at the little girl.

"Wanna hold her?" Logan offered, already shifting her to put the baby into Scott's arms.

Scott quickly shook his head. "Oh no," he said. "She's ... brand new and _small_."

Logan gave him a look and pushed her gently into Scott's chest. "Take her and say hello. I'm not asking."

Scott looked downright surprised for a second before he let Logan settle her in his arms, and he ended up grinning down at the little girl for a second before he looked back up at Logan. "I like the hair."

"Now the only bet on the table is what color her eyes will be," Logan said as Chance tried to crawl up into his lap so he could get a better view of what was going on, having escaped Annie in his intense wriggling game.

"I'm partial to brown myself," Annie said with a small smirk Scott's way that was completely lost on him when he was so wrapped up in holding the little girl.

Logan smirked at her and tipped his chin up. "That your bet then?"

"Sure, why not?" Annie laughed. "I do have genetics on my side. Blue eyes are recessive, after all."

"But I carry the gene too," K replied quietly. "My Dad had blue eyes."

"Then we'll just have to wait and see," Annie said, ruffling Charlie's hair as she watched her brother's giddy excitement with a scrunched up nose.

"See baby?" Chance asked Logan this time, half tugging on his shirt. "Pwetty pwease?"

"Sure kiddo," Logan said. "Just need to get your dad to sit down and _relax_ for two seconds."

Scott gave him a very dry look over Elin's head as he sat down next to Logan and Chance. "This is Elin, Chance. Be very, _very_ gentle," he instructed the little boy, though he didn't really need to, since now that Chance was closer, he had become inexplicably shy and quiet.

The little boy _stared_ at Elin for a long moment before, finally, he reached out one single pudgy finger to very carefully touch the wispy hair and giggle. "Hi, baby," he said in his softest tone, then giggled all over again.

Annie laughed outright at that. "Oh, I'm sorry. Apparently, he's a flirt," she said to K.

"I'm not surprised," K said as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I'm sure." She gave Annie a very meaningful look.

"She's got you there, Annie," Scott said, chuckling until Annie gave him a _look_.

Charlie was giggling at her parents as she leaned over K to see Elin, but right about that time, Elin decided to wake up, which had Chance excited all over again. "Hi, baby!" he said, waving his pudgy hand, more clapping his fingers on his palm than actually waving. "Hi!"

To Scott's surprise, Elin didn't make a sound as she let out a sigh and stared at the little boy, and the two little kids seemed to be locked in a staring contest for a while until Chance said, almost shyly, "I Tance."

Scott could have sworn that Elin raised one eyebrow a bit before she started to wriggle. "Sorry, Elin. Didn't mean to wake you," he offered quietly as he looked to Logan and K.

"She was about due to eat anyhow," K said as she started to stretch.

"Well, we'll get out of your hair, then," Scott said, handing Elin back to K with a small smile. "It's about time for the twins to take a nap too."

As soon as K had Elin, Scott scooped up Chance — and had to promise him that they _would_ come back to see the "pwetty baby" before Chance stopped trying to escape — and they left the new little family to settle back into some peace and quiet for the afternoon.

* * *

Unlike when Scott and Annie had their babies, the ferals were very slow to introduce Elin to the extended family at Xaviers. One, maybe two people at a time were allowed in a slow trickle — and even then ,it seemed really to only be those that felt they were close to Logan or K, rather than the entire population of friends and family.

Still, it wasn't every little girl that got to get a visit from the Black Widow and Captain America in their first week of life.

Natasha's visit had been brief and had mostly consisted of snatching up Elin for herself, holding her close, and curling up with both Elin and Logan — since she always made it a point to curl up with Logan whenever she saw him.

And as for Steve… K was positively entertained by how quickly Steve had switched from old war buddy talking to Logan to a wide-eyed, almost deer-in-the-headlights sort of look as he held Elin for the first time. It was clear their baby girl had him wrapped around her finger.

And then there was Peter Parker. He had more or less camped out and was having a hell of a time taking pictures — especially since the flow of visitors was so _slow_ the chances of him missing out were next to impossible. He was tickled at getting a veritable collection of superhero snapshots as they all melted one by one over the tiny little feral girl who seemed reluctant to cry.

But it wasn't until Peter decided to _finally_ hold her himself that the real fun started. As it turned out, Elin seemed to positively _love_ Peter. He had only been holding her for about five minutes when she woke up, and when she did, she positively beamed at him, her little eyes twinkling as she raised one eyebrow his direction.

"Oh man," Peter said, grinning down at her as he tickled her belly with one finger. "You are going to cause so much trouble." He looked up at Logan and K and quickly added. "The best kind, of course." When that got a smirk out of both Logan and K, Peter grinned and returned his attention to the little girl, unconsciously bouncing her a bit with every step. "We are going to have so much fun when you're older," he promised — and he could have sworn that she even raised her eyebrow his way with a troublemaking kind of look.

"Oh yeah," Peter said, nodding seriously. "So, so much trouble."

* * *

Of course, the news of the newest Howlett wasn't only confined to the adopted family members and friends. Both Daken and Laura knew about it — though Daken was wrapped up in some affairs in Madripoor and hadn't gotten the message about the new little sister.

Laura, on the other hand, decided this was the perfect opportunity to take Logan up on his earlier invitation to come to the mansion. But when she made her way to Westchester to meet her new little sister, she didn't show up alone.

Gabby was sitting beside her in the car doing her very best pout, and Laura shook her head and tried to refrain from rolling her eyes.

"I already told you," she said. "You cannot bring Jonathan. This is a _newborn baby_. Jonathan would track mud and dirt all over her."

"Jonathan's cleaner than you are," Gabby said, sticking her tongue out at Laura. "And Old Logan is just going to growl at him all the time. That's no fun at all. He'll be bored to _tears_!"

"He will be fine."

Gabby pulled another face at Laura, though she still had her shoulders scrunched up almost up to her ears the closer they got to the institute. "I still don't know about this," she muttered.

Laura shook her head at that. "He is _not_ the same as the one you met," she promised.

"O-kay," Gabby said, with one eye closed as she looked over Laura. "But if I hate him," she said slowly, a smile spreading over her face, "then you have to make it up to me and let me drive."

"You are not driving."

"Please?" Gabby asked with wide eyes. "It won't matter if I crash; I wont' feel it!"

Laura let out a breath. "Later," she said, which got a huge grin out of Gabby that Laura couldn't help but smile at. It was impossible not to get swept up in Gabby's excitement sometimes.

When the two of them got to the door, Gabby was bouncing with an almost nervous energy as Laura rang the doorbell, though to their surprise, it was Annie who opened the door.

And since neither of them had met Annie before, neither of them knew how to respond to the overly warm Southern woman who pulled them inside and insisted that they stay for dinner after they saw Logan and K and the little one.

Gabby was enthusiastic about the idea of sticking around for dinner the more she saw of how much there was to explore of the mansion, but Laura managed to rein her attention in and direct her up to where Logan and K were curled up with the little girl, who by then was about a week old … but still tiny.

"Ohmigosh," Gabby said, her eyes wide when she saw the itty bitty bundle — which was how she announced herself in the doorway before she tentatively moved forward. "Can I see?"

Logan looked between the two girls and paused before he shifted Elin in his arms. "You got yourself a sidekick?" Logan had to tease with a crooked sort of smile and his eyes sparkling.

"More like a little sister," Laura said with her head tipped to the side as she approached the little family. "Gabby, say hi."

"Hi," Gabby said, waving one hand.

Logan looked taken off balance by Laura's declaration, and more than a little confused. "Actual little sister?"

"Close enough," Laura said at the same time Gabby said, "No, I'm a clone!"

"Heard that line before," Logan muttered, but before he would consider handing the little girl to either of them, he was sure to shift the way he was holding Elin and pull Laura into a one armed, but tight hug. "Glad you could make it."

Laura couldn't help but give him a surprised sort of smile and return the hug, though she got completely sidetracked when the hug pulled her close enough to get a good look at Elin. Her eyebrows shot up, and her lips parted for a moment before she looked toward Logan and smiled a bit. "Looks like me," she had to tease.

"Time will tell, darlin'," he replied with a smirk before he gently shifted to put Elin in her arms then stepped back by K to let the girls say hello.

Laura looked even more openly surprised as she held Elin, setting her in the crook of her arm so Gabby could peer over and see her too.

"If she learns to drive before I do, I blame you," Gabby whispered to Laura, though she was clearly awestruck by the girl.

"She hasn't taught you to drive yet?" Logan asked, looking as if that was a crime on its own.

"Do not take her side on this," Laura said.

"If she's travelling with you, she _needs to know_ ," Logan argued.

"She can ride a motorcycle," Laura said.

"Don't do her a damn bit of good if you're unconscious," Logan pointed out.

Gabby grinned as Laura frowned. "I like him," she told Laura, then turned Logan's way. " _You'd_ teach me how to drive, wouldn't you?"

"Absolutely," Logan agreed with a smirk. "Can't have my girls running around not knowing what the hell they're doing."

"I will teach you," Laura said, shaking her head.

"Don't listen to her on a stick shift," Logan said, tipping his chin up. "She still can't do it without grinding the gears."

"That's alright," Gabby said. "We tend to crash most things anyway."

"Then you both need a refresher course," K added.

"What is her name?" Laura asked, not even bothering to pretend it wasn't a redirect as she looked down at the little girl.

"Elin," K said, leaning into Logan as she watched the two girls totally entranced with the baby.

"I like it," Gabby said with a grin. "I like her."

Logan stepped forward and lifted Elin up from Laura and gestured to the couch. "Take a seat, half pint."

Gabby grinned as she dropped into the seat and Laura couldn't help smiling at her enthusiasm. "We met your cook. She's pretty nice, but she is _way_ pushy," Gabby said.

"She's not our cook, she's Slim's wife," Logan said as he sat down with Gabby and helped her settle in to hold Elin.

Gabby couldn't stop grinning as she held Elin, absolutely in love, though Laura couldn't leave that news alone. "Wait, that is Cyclops' wife?" she asked in disbelief.

Logan looked up at her, one arm resting on the couch behind Gabby, half curled around the little girl as she held the baby. "Yeah. He found a Southern belle in Alaska teaching Kindergarten. Great minds, I tell ya."

Laura stared at him for a moment before she simply let out a disbelieving noise. "I … am not sure what to think about that."

Logan couldn't hide the smile very well at all. "What's wrong, kiddo? Getting jealous? Gonna talk with a Southern _drawl_ now?"

But at that, Gabby leaned toward him with a troublemaking smile. "No, she's got a _girlfriend_."

Logan tipped his head at that and let the smile turn into a grin. "Oh, is that what the scent's all about. Good for you."

Laura smirked quietly and looked down at Gabby and Elin. "Thanks."

K made her way over to Laura and took her hand. "That, my sweet girl, is what little sisters are for."

"I suppose I should get used to it, considering there are two now," Laura said.

K shook her head. "You will never get used to it, and they will always be awful. Except when they're amazing. Pretty sure it's an evolutionary thing to keep you from killing them."

Laura smirked at that and tipped her head toward Gabby. "Actually," she said, "Gabby has made a big difference in my life."

"They always do," K agreed before she moved a few pillows so Laura could sit next to Logan, smirking to herself watching Logan with all three girls as the two older ones all but melted over Elin.

But it wasn't too long before Elin's little face twisted up and she started to look incredibly unhappy, wriggling in her bunting until both of her little arms had shot out and she was grasping at air with her long, spindly fingers.

"Oh no!" Gabby said, wide-eyed. "What did I do?"

"Nothing, sweetheart," K said, quickly making her way over to them to scoop up Elin. "She's hungry, that's all. I'll be back." She headed out the door with Elin - already trying to bite her neck and squirming around.

"So," Logan said, leaning back in his seat, but not moving his arm from behind Gabby. "Do I wanna know where you came from?"

Laura shook her head lightly. "We took down the cloning program together," she promised.

"Good," Logan said, nodding. "'Cause I was gonna offer…"

"We got it," Gabby said with a grin. "If you wanna _help_ …"

"Help … as in pull yer butts outta the fire? Any time," Logan shot right back.

"Gabby and I have chased down anyone we can find related to the program," Laura said, almost unable to help giving Gabby an affectionate, proud kind of smile.

"If you find any names that you can't track down, send 'em my way," Logan said. "K's feelin' a little mean, if I'm bein' honest."

"Why?" Gabby said. "I mean, Laura's always feeling a little mean…" Laura shot her a dry look. "...but you have a _baby_ , right?"

Logan nodded and then tipped his head. "You've heard about mama bears, right? Well … it's a little more … advanced than that."

"Good thing we got here a week later, then," Laura said with a smirk.

"People have been coming and going - but only a couple at a time," Logan told her. "If it was a gathered group, she'd probably get a lil' stabby."

"That's when things get fun," Gabby said.

"Not when it's your friends and allies," Logan pointed out.

Gabby let out a little breath. "Okay, true."

Laura smirked and reached around Logan to ruffle Gabby's hair. "I think I can understand that a bit. I get a little stabby when I am fighting with you," she teased.

"So what's your plan, girls?" Logan asked.

"Well, Mrs. Cyclops informed us that we will be staying for dinner," Gabby said. "I don't think it was an actual question."

"It was _not_ ," Logan agreed.

"Then we will be staying for dinner," Laura said.

"And then we're going back so Laura can go on her _date_ ," Gabby whispered with a little smirk.

Logan smirked again and raised an eyebrow Laura's way. "Workin' through all the original X-Men, are ya?"

"Oh, shut up," Laura said, though the fact that she had bit her lip gave it all away.

"Have your wicked way with Henry yet? Get an 'Oh, my stars and garters'?"

" _No_."

"Savin' the best for last then, eh?" Logan teased, chuckling to himself. "I'll make sure he knows he's on your 'to do' list."

"Oh, shut up."

"Hey. I get it. I hear about people that like to collect things. That's a lil' bit unorthodox, but … okay."

"That's _not_ …" Laura let out a frustrated noise.

"Is there a score card?" Logan asked, setting his chin in his palm.

" _No_."

When she looked properly flustered, he shifted how he was sitting and put his arms out her way. "I'm just picking."

For a second, Laura pretended to hold the glare before she simply relaxed into the hug, getting a little giggle out of Gabby and a whispered, "You're even more squishy for him than for Old Logan hugs."

"Hard to live up to the real deal, kiddo," Logan rumbled out, still holding on to Laura.

"Tell me about it," Laura said with a teasing smirk.

"I wouldn't know firsthand," Logan said dryly.

Laura's smirk deepened at that before she finally sat up and got to her feet. "If you say so."

"Hey. Still don't like K, do you?" Logan asked.

Laura paused and thought it over before she slowly shook her head. "She suits you," she said at last.

Logan nodded slowly and turned to Gabby. "That sounded a lot like a diplomatic 'yes' to me."

Gabby nodded a bit. "I like her," she assured Logan.

Logan nodded at that. "Well, probably late in sayin' so, but welcome to the family, kid." He didn't really ask before he pulled her into just as wrapped up of a bear hug as Laura had gotten. "Just gonna have to suffer through it. Part of the deal."

Gabby couldn't help but grin in surprise before she hugged him back. "And a happy late birthday to your other girl, too," she said cheerfully.

…..

Translations from German:

" _Herzliche Glückwünsche" -_ Congratulations


End file.
